Express News Service
Amritsar, September 14: A GROUP of miscreants ransacked the St Paul's Church situated at the Court Road here, destroying the equipment used in Sunday worship and making away with some of the consecrated objects, including the cross - the religious symbol of Christians.
The local Christian community held a meeting at the church premises this morning, in which prayers were offered and the act denounced. The police, on the basis of a complaint filed by Rev Uday Singh, presbyter incharge of the Church, have registered a case against Balwant Rai, Satpal, Joginder Pal and a few others residing nearby.
Sources said the incident took place around midnight and the miscreants entered the church by breaking open one of the windows in the vestry (office of the presbyter incharge). The miscreants broke the brass railings, used for the Holy Communion ceremony, broke the glass window, chandeliers, strewed the books used in worship all over, desecrated the Holy Bible and stole the cross on the altar and money from the collection box installed in the church. Rev Uday Singh, while talking to ENS, said the incident came to his notice this morning when he came to open the doors of the church. "The scene inside was one of utter chaos such as I had never witnessed before and was really shocking. I summoned the members of the pastorate committee managing the church and together we informed Bishop P K Samantharoy, and later the police," he said.
He added that police had sent a dog squad to the spot, while the cops also took fingerprints of the accused. Edwin Paul, secretary, St Paul's Church, stated that soon after inspecting the church premises, the dogs deployed for the investigation dashed to the place where the accused resided. "We suspect that this is their handiwork as earlier too they had been involved in such activities," said Edwin Paul.
When contacted, SSP Amritsar S S Srivastava said a case had been registered in this regard and an investigation into the matter too had been initiated. He further stated that there was no communal force behind the incident and the whole episode appeared to be the handiwork of a few miscreants, one of whom had been rounded up by the police. "Investigations are being held and whoever is found guilty will not be spared," he said.
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Amritsar, September 14: A GROUP of miscreants ransacked the St Paul's Church situated at the Court Road here, destroying the equipment used in Sunday worship and making away with some of the consecrated objects, including the cross - the religious symbol of Christians.
The local Christian community held a meeting at the church premises this morning, in which prayers were offered and the act denounced. The police, on the basis of a complaint filed by Rev Uday Singh, presbyter incharge of the Church, have registered a case against Balwant Rai, Satpal, Joginder Pal and a few others residing nearby.
Sources said the incident took place around midnight and the miscreants entered the church by breaking open one of the windows in the vestry (office of the presbyter incharge). The miscreants broke the brass railings, used for the Holy Communion ceremony, broke the glass window, chandeliers, strewed the books used in worship all over, desecrated the Holy Bible and stole the cross on the altar and money from the collection box installed in the church. Rev Uday Singh, while talking to ENS, said the incident came to his notice this morning when he came to open the doors of the church. "The scene inside was one of utter chaos such as I had never witnessed before and was really shocking. I summoned the members of the pastorate committee managing the church and together we informed Bishop P K Samantharoy, and later the police," he said.
He added that police had sent a dog squad to the spot, while the cops also took fingerprints of the accused. Edwin Paul, secretary, St Paul's Church, stated that soon after inspecting the church premises, the dogs deployed for the investigation dashed to the place where the accused resided. "We suspect that this is their handiwork as earlier too they had been involved in such activities," said Edwin Paul.
When contacted, SSP Amritsar S S Srivastava said a case had been registered in this regard and an investigation into the matter too had been initiated. He further stated that there was no communal force behind the incident and the whole episode appeared to be the handiwork of a few miscreants, one of whom had been rounded up by the police. "Investigations are being held and whoever is found guilty will not be spared," he said.
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