Headlines
Should not be any attack on religious places: Delhi HC
New Delhi, April 24
The Delhi High Court,
hearing a plea on the security of churches here, on Friday said there
"should not be any attack on any kind of religious places" in the
country.
Justice Siddharth Mridul said India had survived for thousands of years in harmony and this should continue.
After
some attacks on churches, a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed
in the court seeking protection of religious rights of Christians and a
court-monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe.
At the hearing, the central government said the PIL was "communal" in nature.
"Why
should this (petition) be concerned with churches only? All places of
worship should be protected irrespective of religion," it said.
The court observed that irrespective of religion "all places of worship need to be protected".
"Whether
it's a church, temple, gurdwara, mosque, we have to make sure that all
religious places are equally protected," the court said.
Advocate Anil Soni, appearing for the union home ministry, asked why the petition was limited to churches.
"There
are attacks on temples, gurdwaras and mosques too. No one wants to talk
about that. You (petitioner) should be concerned with all religions.
"At
least 200 temples were vandalised, 30 gurdwaras and 14 mosques were
vandalised along with six churches in the national capital last year as
per Delhi Police statistics. We can't give preference to one religion.
We are for all religious places," Soni contended.
The court
expressed its displeasure over the attacks. "This is something which is
agitating all of us. There should not be any attack of any kind on any
religious place.
"India is a pluralist society which has survived
over thousands of years. We have lived with harmony with each other. If
we wish to survive as a country, we have to continue that harmony,"
Justice Mridul said.
Saying it was an "important matter", the
court transferred the plea to the roster bench of the chief justice who
hears the PILs. The matter would be heard on April 29.
The PIL
filed by advocate Reegan S. Bell asked authorities to compensate the
places of worship that were attacked and to ensure they are restored to
their original form.
Senior advocate Adish C. Aggarwala told the
court that since December, six churches in Delhi had been vandalised but
no arrests had been made.
Saying the government had failed to
prevent the attacks, the plea urged the court to seek action taken
report from the central and Delhi governments and Delhi Police regarding
the attacks and efforts made by them to secure these places.