FORMER Karnataka High Court judge M F Saldanha has accused chief minister B S Yeddyurappa and home minister V S Acharya of being party to attacks on churches in Karnataka in September 2008, in an ‘independent’ report he compiled on the attacks.
In his enquiry commission report, he has concluded that “the church attack incidents are representative of the hidden agenda of the party in power in the State, the BJP, which is driven by a very strong casteist force.”
Speaking to reporters after releasing the report in Mangalore on Feb 24, Justice Saldanha said that every attacks and incidents, which took place were instigated and pre-planned.
“Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and the then Home Minister Dr V S Acharya were directly responsible for the State-sponsored attacks,” Saldanha charged.
Justice Saldanha’s report was prepared with the support of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties and Transparency International.
The official report of the Justice B K Somashekhara commission of inquiry, instituted by the BJP-led Karnataka government, had ruled out state conspiracy. The official report blamed said neither the BJP nor the State government had any role ‘directly’ or ‘indirectly’ in the violence.
“In all the incidents involving violence, the principal culpability rests with the State police department. Not a single instance of violence, be it lathi charge, use of teargas, smashing of vehicles, church property, crucifix, statues and sacred objects, can either be condoned or justified,” he added and said that those were all rank criminal offences for which officers and staff concerned deserved to be prosecuted.
He said the police violence committed inside the primary school at Kulshekhar is unpardonable and unprecedented.
“The use of out-dated teargas shells containing toxic gas inside the church and school can only be defined as an attempt to murder. The arrogance of the police officers standing with their boots on the sacred altar table is again unpardonable and unforgivable,” he observed.
Justice Saldanha said to as part of his investigations and to prepare the report he had visited 413 places including hospitals, police stations, jails, government offices and prayer centres and examined 673 witnesses and 2,114 victims.
“However, I could not find instances of forceful conversion. No cases of forceful conversions were registered in any of the police stations across the State as on September 14, 2008,” Saldanha said.
On allegations of circulation of offensive literature ‘Satyadarshini,’ Saldanha said, “it was a ploy to justify the unpardonable and indefensible attacks.”
“I have also investigated very thoroughly as to whether any foreign funds have been received and channelised for any unlawful or anti-social purpose and the answer is that there is not only zero evidence but that there is also no ground for suspicion as far as this is concerned,” he added.
Related reports: Karnataka attacks on Christians 2008
Bishops stage sit-in protest against Somasekhara panel report
Mangalore Muslims rally against attacks on Christians in Karnataka
Editor’s Blog: Justice Somasekhara report biased, mischievous and funny!
