Activists get bail, victimised priests held

This vibrant textile town of three lakh people in south Maharashtra is oblivious to the events of the past two days, beginning Monday evening, when two Christian priests were beaten up by local activists of Hindu outfits.

This vibrant textile town of three lakh people in south Maharashtra is oblivious to the events of the past two days, beginning Monday evening, when two Christian priests were beaten up by local activists of Hindu outfits. The activists accused the priests of converting six Hindus from the Shahpur locality.

But in the Gandhi statue area, a stone8217;s throw away from the Gaobaug police station, tension is palpable. Today, the Gaobaug police arrested 14 activists of various Hindu outfits for their alleged involvement in the incident. But all were released on bail later in the evening. Those arrested included VHP District Unit Secretary Jawahar Chhabda, Joint Secretary Prakash Pote, and city unit chief Shivprasad Vyas.

Yesterday, Pastors Ajit Belavi, 35, and Ramesh Korapgol, 34, both residents of Chikodi in Karnataka, along with Rama Shinde, a resident of Shahpur, were remanded in police custody till May 11. They were arrested on the basis of an FIR filed by Chandrakant Chavan in Shahpur, where the priests were regular visitors over the past six months. Charan Singh filed by Chavan was on grounds of being cheated under Sec 420 and 295 A of IPC.

The priests are employees of Chennai-based Friends Missionary Prayer Band. Kolhapur-based Maharashtra Shepherd Council8217;s President Pastor Dilip Kamble said the police had been unfair in locking up the victims while letting their attackers go scot-free. 8220;We are contacting the National Minorities Commission for justice,8221; he said.

While it was on the basis of the Council8217;s protest that the 14 activists were arrested, what actually got the police machinery moving was state Home Minister R R Patil8217;s public denouncement of the incident. Kamble said the two priests were regularly visiting Shahpur and holding prayer meetings at the residence of Rama Shinde. 8220;Chavan, his family and relatives had been regulars at the gathering for the past six months. Clearly, he filed the FIR under pressure from the RSS-VHP,8221; said Pastor Sanjay Renke, Vice-President of the Maharashtra Shepherd Council.

8220;In 1997 and 2006, similar incidents of Christians getting beaten up and arrested had occured,8221; said Pastor Kamble.

The RSS had another take on the incident. 8220;The electronic media is to be blamed for blowing up what was a local issue. Besides, Patil8217;s statement aimed at minority appeasement led to a lot of pressure on the police to arrest our activists,8221; said the group8217;s western Maharashtra convenor Bhagatram Chhabda.

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When asked how the electronic media happened to be present when the two priests were beaten up, Chhabda said, 8220;We were celebrating the centenary of 8216;Vandemataram8217; near the Gandhi statue on Monday when we heard of the conversions in Shahpur. A cameraman of local channel called B-News followed us there and shot the incident. We do not know how the same footage reached NDTV, CNN-IBN, Sahara Samay, Star News, Aajtak, Zee News and ETV by 9 pm the same day8221;.

Chhabda, however, denied that it was Hindutva activists who beat up the priests. 8220;We were engaging them in a debate on conversion when the local people got enraged and beat them up.8221;