Janhastakshep seeks judicial probe into the fire in church

Janhastakshep, a people's intervention group, today demanded a judicial probe into the fire incident in a church in Dilshad Garden, claiming that police is lax in its investigation.
Representatives of the group, who recently carried out an inspection of the site, also supported the demand of the Christian community that the government should undertake the repair of the church and compensate for the loss of the church properties, a statement issued by Janhastakshep said.
A three-member's fact finding team found presence of kerosene cans at the spot which indicated that the fire was caused by some miscreants and was not due to electrical short circuit.

"The fire was caused in such a way that all the valuables including the statue of Mother Mary, the Altar, the cross and the Bible and other religious books were burnt.
"It was clear that the targets were selected as although the balcony of the prayer room was reduced to ashes, there were no traces of fire on the stairs leading to the balcony," the report said.
Father Antony Francis, who joined the church only six month back as Pastor, though unsure of the real reasons, did not deny the communal angle. He suspects that this attack on the church may be a part of the greater design of attacking churches and Christian missionaries, the report said.

"The statement of the guard sounds suspicious as according to him, after taking the charge at 5:30 AM, he went away for having a cup of tea in a nearby tea stall. As per his claim the building had already caught fire when he returned after around half an hour.

"This simply implies that someone came within that period, broke open the back gate of the church and systemically put on fire in the selected portions on the ground floor and the balcony," said the report.
The investigating officer refused to divulge any information on the pretext that the probe was still going on.

"The casual attitude of the police becomes clear as they haven't apprehended any one for interrogation, not even the guard whose conduct obviously is suspicious," states the report by the Janhastakshep.
"...This event can't be seen in isolation. It is not surprising that just before the assembly elections; Delhi started witnessing communal riots and tensions as seen in the cases of Trilokpuri, Bawana, Okhla and some other places.
"Janhastakshep feels that police is showing laxity in its investigation and demands a time bound judicial probe in the case" the statement added.