Christian school vandalised in Delhi, Modi calls police chief
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi summoned Delhi’s police chief and asked him to investigate half-a-dozen incidents of vandalism at Christian institutions in the city over the past two months after a convent school in Vasant Vihar was attacked Friday.
Unidentified men broke into Holy Child Auxilium School in the early hours, stole some money, damaged security cameras and ransacked parts of the building, including the principal’s office, sources said.
Chief minister-designate Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) condemned the incident, though police commissioner BS Bassi said it was a case of theft. “These kind of acts will not be tolerated,” Kejriwal tweeted.
The incident raises concerns about growing communal violence in India where Christians and Muslims have come under attack since the BJP rose to power at the Centre last year. The prime minister’s office (PMO) said Modi expressed “deep concern and anguish” to Bassi over growing instances of vandalism in the Capital. The PMO statement also said Modi spoke to Union home secretary LC Goyal and asked him to pay special attention to the rising incidents of crime and vandalism and to work towards ensuring the security of women in the Capital.
The police have been asked to make a list of all Christian institutions, place pickets outside each and raise their walls, sources said.
“Our initial inquiry suggested it was not a case of desecration but of theft,” Bassi told the media. “The Prime Minister expressed his great worry and said this case must be solved immediately. He said that security must be foolproof so that attacks don’t recur.”
Father
Savarimuthu
Sankar, spokesperson for the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese, said this was an attack on the minority community. “The principal’s office has been totally ransacked. The miscreants even knew where the CCTV was and tampered with it first,” he said.