Karnataka - Mangalore   

Minorities complain of police `inaction'

By Our Staff Correspondent

MANGALORE, SEPT. 12. The State Minorities Commission has been receiving scores of complaints and appeals from minority communities in the district about increasing threat to the safety of their life and property.

Some of the organisations that have complained to the Commission Chairman, Mohammad Masood, are the Karnataka Missions Network and the Indian Union Muslim League.

The complaints related to personal attacks, obstruction of religious practices and prayers and matters concerning to transportation of livestock and other businesses that had customary vocations of the minorities.

The Karnataka Missions Network, in its appeal presented to the Commission, alleged that on many occasions, some groups belonging to "fundamentalist outfits" had tried to prevent inter-religion marriages, prayer meets and religious meets of Christians.

When people of the community went to the police to lodge complaints, the latter declined to take cognisance of the crime and denied to register complaints, it alleged.

In one of the incidents in Victorian Prayer Fellowship of Bagambila of Kuttar in the Ullal police limits on September 28, 2003, some youth, who had assembled to protest some other event in the area, had allegedly come to the place where the prayers were being offered and asked the police to stop the prayer which the police did after sometime. But they never showed the same enthusiasm in filing the counter complaint given by the Christian community, it alleged.

The Christian community of New life faith, Indian Pentecostal Church of God have also complained to the police in Karkala (Udupi district) and Urva Police limits that they were being harassed and prevented from carrying on with their religion in Mangalore, the appeal stated. Similar complaints from Udupi, Panambur, B.C. Road, Puttur, and Panemangalore have been lodged with the Commission.

The Indian Union Muslim League also sent a volley of complaints and appeals to the Commission pertaining to religious intolerance and harassment from some fundamentalist organisations in the district.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

• Major district roads neglected
• Minorities complain of police `inaction'
• AIDS awareness workshop held
• Collection of rare stamps at Pandeshwar
• Readers' Mail

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu