Showing posts with label church attacks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church attacks. Show all posts
Monday, February 21, 2011
Sunday, April 18, 2010
`Law and order situation has improved in DK'
MANGALORE: It is indeed a bad time to be a criminal, especially with underworld links in this part of the world, in recent times. Ever since a special squad of the Western Range police nabbed D-Company hitman Rashid Malbari and his henchmen on March 29, 2009 and foiled a bid to commit extortion by kidnapping and assassination of prominent persons, the graph of organized crime has nose-dived, leaving the men in khaki a relieved lot.
A quick perusal of numbers post-Malbari arrest tells its own story. Police in the district have accounted for 146 criminals with `alleged' underworld links and recovered around 43 firearms from their possession. This, says police commissioner Gopal B Hosur, is significant in that the main intent of the criminals arrested was to foment communal discord in a major way by targeting prominent personalities of either religious communities.
Hosur told STOI that a lot more can be done to keep the underworld elements firmly under the thumb. "By and large, we are successful in thwarting designs of fugitive underworld bosses, who seek to spread their reign of terror from abroad," he said. The unemployed youths of the region come in handy for them to carry out their nefarious designs. "Money and thrills of organized crime is a heady cocktail for these youth," he observes.
On reasons for increasing police success in cracking down on organized crime, Hosur opines, is primarily because of vastly improved law and order situation in communally-volatile Dakshina Kannada. "Police get a lot more time on their hands to investigate cases when there is no law and order situation to deal with," he says. "A lot more tact and time is needed in dealing with extortion related cases, which are more local," he adds.
Apportioning equal responsibility for the civil society to help the police in dealing with organized crime, and maintenance of law and order, Hosur says, "It is strange that builders, most often targeted by underworld with extortion related calls, do not lodge a complaint." Builders as a body must set aside their professional rivalries and stand united and stronger to counter threats facing their community rather than succumb to it, he adds.
The home minister V S Acharya observes that there is a definite strategy on part of the state police to take on organized crime. Not outlining this strategy, Acharya recently told STOI that the results are there for all to see. Hosur feels it is the faith reposed by the department on young officers to take on the underworld, which is yielding rich dividends. "It is their determination and our guidance that is winning the battle for us," he adds. jaideep.shenoy@timesgroup.com
A quick perusal of numbers post-Malbari arrest tells its own story. Police in the district have accounted for 146 criminals with `alleged' underworld links and recovered around 43 firearms from their possession. This, says police commissioner Gopal B Hosur, is significant in that the main intent of the criminals arrested was to foment communal discord in a major way by targeting prominent personalities of either religious communities.
Hosur told STOI that a lot more can be done to keep the underworld elements firmly under the thumb. "By and large, we are successful in thwarting designs of fugitive underworld bosses, who seek to spread their reign of terror from abroad," he said. The unemployed youths of the region come in handy for them to carry out their nefarious designs. "Money and thrills of organized crime is a heady cocktail for these youth," he observes.
On reasons for increasing police success in cracking down on organized crime, Hosur opines, is primarily because of vastly improved law and order situation in communally-volatile Dakshina Kannada. "Police get a lot more time on their hands to investigate cases when there is no law and order situation to deal with," he says. "A lot more tact and time is needed in dealing with extortion related cases, which are more local," he adds.
Apportioning equal responsibility for the civil society to help the police in dealing with organized crime, and maintenance of law and order, Hosur says, "It is strange that builders, most often targeted by underworld with extortion related calls, do not lodge a complaint." Builders as a body must set aside their professional rivalries and stand united and stronger to counter threats facing their community rather than succumb to it, he adds.
The home minister V S Acharya observes that there is a definite strategy on part of the state police to take on organized crime. Not outlining this strategy, Acharya recently told STOI that the results are there for all to see. Hosur feels it is the faith reposed by the department on young officers to take on the underworld, which is yielding rich dividends. "It is their determination and our guidance that is winning the battle for us," he adds. jaideep.shenoy@timesgroup.com
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Journalist of Puttur scales great heights in the art of News Fabrication!
Reporter from an evening newspaper of dubious repute, sets fire to a shop with the intention of creating communal violence!If the community had not exercised restraint, this episode would have created another communal violence in Puttur.
Police are also investigating, whether the same reporter was also involved in the desecration of Mahatma Gandhijis statue at Puttur.
As expected
=Puttur Taluk Press Club has disowned the reporter in question!
=None of the local webpages which otherwise sensationalize any news which involves minority community have reported this episode!
News courtesy: Vijaya Karnataka
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Then it was PAID NEWS, Now it is a mad run for TRP!
Stage managed attacks, Invasion of Privacy, Paid news/ Advertorials, Glorification of crime news, selective blindness, merchants of fear, Judgemental writeups, Moral panic in the media, Actors in Politically sponsored dramas, Spreading panic and going scot free, False allegations ....
all these describe one section of the present day TRP hungry media...says this article from HosaDiganta
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Quote of the week
"The Justice B K Somashekhar Commission, also clarified that the contents of the report were not disclosed to anybody and only salient features of the report which were found already in the public domain."
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Vandalism not Attack!
Photo clearly shows the location of the grotto, outside the church compound, on the roadside. Glass covering the grotto was found to be broken - material for channels crying for breaking news! (photo by Daijiworld)TNN, 26 January 2010, 09:44pm IST
Home minister V S Acharya has described Monday's vandalism in religious places in Mysore and Karwar as acts of thefts and not any concerted attack on churches. In an informal interaction with mediapersons on the sidelines of inauguration of the police commissionerate here on Tuesday, Acharya said these are acts of theft carried outside the church but on its premises and are not attacks on churches per se.
"The miscreants did damage property on church premises," he said adding that those involved in these incidents will not be spared. "Our government took stern action even when religious places were attacked by miscreants in the past," he said adding that the culprits in this case too would not be spared. The process of rounding up people and those involved in this incident - directly or otherwise is happening, Acharya added.
Make own security arrangement: BANGALORE, January 27, 2010: In the wake of twin attack on churches in Karnataka on last Monday, the BJP Government has expressed its difficulties in providing police security to religious institutions across the state on account of limited number of police personnel.
Addressing the media here on Wednesday, Home Minister V S Acharya said it was difficult to the government to deploy police to guard all temples, churches and mosques in the State. Karnataka has only 90,000 police personnel but there are over 50,000 temples, churches and mosques in the State.
Dr Acharya pleaded the Government’s helplessness to protect or provide protection to the churches, mosques and temples as the police force was not sufficient to handle the task. The religious institutions have to make arrangements to provide security at the places of worship, he said. Dr Acharya appealed to the media and the opposition parties not to exaggerate the church attacks to tarnish the BJP Government and said that the attacks could well have been mere acts of theft or burglary.
Added on 14.02.2010: For some politicians, Terror attacks (Pune Blast killing 9) are trivial compared to road side Grotto vandalism!!!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Thought for the day
When the national media houses are busy crying hoarse on an "attack"(Vandalism to be precise!) on a churches...
here is a response reproduced from Daijiworld.
Gladson from Brahmavar writes...Gone are the days when devotees interceded saints to protect them from dangers! Now the Saints seem to be asking people to protect them! Why blame BJP, Congress or anyone when we have failed to restrict our own black sheep? Though the prevailing situation makes us easy to find fault with political parties and their chelas, let us not forget that we have enough people within our community who know how and when to take advantage of the situation. An incident that took place some months ago near Mangalore is a nice example. We can brush it off saying it is just a stray incident. But bottomline is that our clergy and laity leaders who feel comfortable hanging on to each other's garbs, often give enough reasons for at least a handful of people to have grouse. Leaving aside this, why can't we spend some money to provide the church premises with ample security? We spend crores on marble floors and sandlewood doors and a few lac on presbyteries. But fail to secure the building or appoint on security guard. While the critics can always argue as what one security guard can offer, let us not forget that his presence can make a lot of difference. We have locked up God within the church in such a manner that it becomes extremely difficult for Him to come out or shout for help when He is attacked!! Sad that when we enjoy a secure sleep inside our houses, our God has been exposed to attacks. He sent His Son 2000 years to rescue us but we don't have one security guard to protect Him now!
Cartoon: Prakash Shetty/Mediamirchi
Saturday, December 19, 2009
An example of Clever reporting by the media...
Pastor: masterminds a church attack!
Five held for attacking church at Humnabad
BIDAR: The police on Thursday arrested five persons, including a pastor, in the church attack case reported a month ago. According to the police, Vasanth Kumar, the mastermind behind the incident, had planned get himself transferred to the very church he attacked. Kumar had served as pastor at Beersheba Church in Humnabad before beingtransferred to another church at Basanthpur village in Gulbarga district on June 20, 2009. Having lost interest to serve in Basanthpur church, he hatched a plan to attack the Beersheba Church with the help of his friends Sunil Baburao and Deepak Bhola. He "allegedly" offered them to pay Rs 10,000 and paid Rs 1,000 as advance. Sunil and Deepak in turn sought the help of Mallikarjun Swamy and Manjunath, the residents of Teachers' Colony off Anakuni Road. The police caught Sunil first and during the interrogation, he spilled the beans. (Note that the above mentioned report headline cleverly fails to mention that Vasanth Kumar is the Pastor of the church which was attacked!)
See the BIASED reporting in the media when the incident was reported...
Bangalore, Nov 18 (IANS) A church in north Karnataka has been vandalized and a cross, doors and windows have been damaged, police and church authorities said Wednesday.Vasanthkumar, the priest at the church in Humnabad in Bidar district, about 700 km from here, told reporters that the attack must have taken place late Tuesday and the damage was noticed Wednesday.
"It looks like a deliberate act of desecration as nothing has been stolen," Vasanthkumar said.
He said the cross on top the church, the main door and windows have been damaged.
The police visited the church and registered a case on the complaint lodged by the priest.
In September last, more than 15 churches were vandalized in different parts of the state by pro-Hindu activists, protesting alleged conversion activity by missionaries. (See how the editors pass sermon here...blaming the Hindu organizations without any basis!)
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Cartoon of the day
by Prakash Shetty (from media mirchi)When the national media houses are busy crying hoarse (with 6 column coverage on front page- thus adding fuel to the fire) on an attack on a church grotto in village near Udupi...
here is a response reproduced from Daijiworld.
Gladson from Brahmavar writes...Gone are the days when devotees interceded saints to protect them from dangers! Now the Saints seem to be asking people to protect them! Why blame BJP, Congress or anyone when we have failed to restrict our own black sheep? Though the prevailing situation makes us easy to find fault with political parties and their chelas, let us not forget that we have enough people within our community who know how and when to take advantage of the situation. An incident that took place some months ago near Mangalore is a nice example. We can brush it off saying it is just a stray incident. But bottomline is that our clergy and laity leaders who feel comfortable hanging on to each other's garbs, often give enough reasons for at least a handful of people to have grouse. Leaving aside this, why can't we spend some money to provide the church premises with ample security? We spend crores on marble floors and sandlewood doors and a few lac on presbyteries. But fail to secure the building or appoint on security guard. While the critics can always argue as what one security guard can offer, let us not forget that his presence can make a lot of difference. We have locked up God within the church in such a manner that it becomes extremely difficult for Him to come out or shout for help when He is attacked!! Sad that when we enjoy a secure sleep inside our houses, our God has been exposed to attacks. He sent His Son 2000 years to rescue us but we don't have one security guard to protect Him now!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Self Restraint by the media: need of the hour
An ill timed statement about law and order- falsely attributed to the Governor, Legislative session in progress ...timing is just right for the miscreants to play havoc! What is needed at present is the self restraint by the media, not to blow these incidents out of proportion.
Condemning the incident, home minister V S Acharya alleged that some anti-social elements were trying to create disharmony. He gave an assurance that churches in the state would be protected. Acharya said he had deputed a team of senior officials to get an on-the-spot assessment of the incident, and instructed the police to speed up the investigation.
Unanswered questions:
1. Why there was no security guard on duty? (the security guard has been away on leave 3 days ago!)
2. Why did the Congress brigade visit the place at 11am, much before the Church authorities lodged the complaint regarding the attack? (whether the Cong brigade was there to verify the job done by the hired miscreants?)
The debate...
1. Is it the job of the police to guard places of worship?
2. To Blame the police for the vices of the society, is similar to blaming the doctor for ill health!
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