Sharma promises action on assault

VADODARA, Nov 2: Vadodara Police Commissioner Kuldip Sharma has asserted that the city police would take stern action against Vishwa Hindu P...

VADODARA, Nov 2: Vadodara Police Commissioner Kuldip Sharma has asserted that the city police would take stern action against Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal activists responsible for the October 29 assault on delegates at a Christian convention.

Sharma, who resumed duty on Monday after a week-long leave, denied that the police was going soft on the VHP, saying, 8220;There is no delay in police action since investigation is on in right earnest. We are going to proceed very strictly in the matter and no one, howsoever big, will be spared. Delay in identification of persons should not be construed as inaction. The police have been very impartial and independent and will remain so8221;. He denied that police was under political pressure not to take action against the VHP.

During an exclusive interview to Express Newsline, Sharma said, 8220;No one has any business taking the law into his hands. I am going to book those involved in the incident for criminal trespass8221;.

When asked about the VHP8217;s allegation that Christian missionaries were converting people in the name of religious propagation, Sharma quoted law books to say, 8220;Propagation of one8217;s religion is not a crime under Indian law. And if propagation results in religious conversion, that is not a criminal act8221;.

He added, 8220;It is when one ridicules another religion and hurts others8217; feelings that it becomes a crime8221;.

When informed that the missionaries spoke only of the virtues of their own religion and not against any other as reported in an Eyewitness8217; account in Express Newsline, November 2, Sharma said, 8220;Then the VHP8217;s allegations are not legally tenable8221;.

The police had removed a welcome to Vadodara city of the Hindu Rashtra8217; signboard the VHP had put up near the Chhani octroi, he said, pointing out that India was a secular state.

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Asked to explain why the police had not arrested anyone though local VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders, including Neeraj Jain and Bhagubhai, had admitted to being involved in the assault, the commissioner said, 8220;If the wrong persons are arrested, either party 8212; the VHP or the Christian missionaries 8212; can level allegations of harassment against the police8221;. Since the complainants had not mentioned specific names, it is difficult to pick up anyone without full inquiry, he explained.

Meanwhile, a fact-finding team comprising members of the People8217;s Union for Civil Liberties, Sahiyar, Gujarat Forum for Women8217;s Studies and Action and Movement for Secular Democracy, which independently investigated the incident, said, 8220;VHP intervention is a part of the statewide plan to browbeat, threaten and suppress all non-Hindu minorities8221;.

They condemned the 8220;anti-democratic and anti-human rights methods of the VHP-Bajrang Dal clique and conniving police officials8221;.