Somasekhara Commission resumes inquiry

A week after sending the interim report on church attacks in Mangalore and Dakshina Kannada districts, Justice B K Somasekhara Commission has resumed inquiry till a final report is submitted to the state government.

In the latest, a local Christian group submitted a set of documents against the Bajrang Dal and its then state convener Mahendra Kumar, accusing them of deliberate attacks against minority Christians.

Appearing before the Somasekhara Commission, Anil Colaco of Karnataka Christa Sanghatanegala Okkoota, produced several news clippings, letters written to government authorities and copies of police complaints regarding alleged atrocities against Christians in Chikmagalur district.

Colaco said Christians have constantly been attacked in Chikmagalur district for the past several years and when the Christian schools closed down protesting the attacks on their community in Orissa, Mr. Mahendra Kumar had threatened to show "his might" soon in August 2008.

He alleged that the Bajrang Dal activists had been acting as moral police with the tacit support of the local police, as a result of which the minority communities - Christians and Muslims - have constantly been living under fear, as reported by The Hindu.

Colaco went on to say that Kumar has been a "nuisance" by making frequent inflammatory speeches and indulging in vandalism against the minority communities.

The activists often stop vehicles that carry cows to slaughter houses, he stated in his affidavit.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused the Justice B K Somashekara Commission for making its findings public before presenting it to the Chief Minister.

K S Eshwarappa, the new Karnataka BJP president, alleged that Justice Somashekhara had himself leaked the report, which alluded to the involvement of Sangh Parivar outfits like the Bajrang Dal, Sri Rama Sene and VHP in the attacks.

Responding to the statement, Congress Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah said, "The government has spent Rs 2 crore on a commission that has given a report that is in tune with what we have been saying all along about the church attacks."

Justice Somasekhara, a former High Court judge, in his interim report accused top police officers, district administration and other authorities to have colluded with the right-wing Hindu organisations during the violence on Christians.

Somasekhara suggested Karnataka's BJP government to publicly state its commitment to protect all religions.