Six priests beaten up, Opp suspects Cong hand

Sandesh Prabhudesai
7 September 1999 

A shocking incident of mercilessly beating up six priests and a sacristan in the village belonging to chief minister Luizinho Faleiro in Goa, by a Christian youth, has suddenly taken a political overtone with the opposition parties alleging hand of the Congress leaders behind it.

Chief minister Luizinho Faleiro however has vehemently denied the charge, stating that it was an unfortunate act of a mad man beating the priests, one of whom was counselling the assailant for the psychological illness he is believed to be suffering from.

As polling for the two parliamentary seats in Goa ended on Sunday, the incident took place the following night, when one Herman Corriea entered the church premises in Navelim and beat up six priests, with a wooden plank having nails affixed on it, forcefully breaking open the door of the pastoral house adjacent to the church.

The police have arrested the village youth and hospitalised him along with the injured priests as the irate villagers earlier beat up the youth and also damaged his house property. The incident took place at around 9 pm, when all the priests were sitting together at a dining table.

The Nationalist Congress Party as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party, while condemning the incident, have alleged hand of the ruling Congress party into it. Dr Wilfred de Souza, who was contesting as the NCP candidate from South Goa, has in fact blamed industries minister Churchill Alemao for planning this attack.

R S Sahay, the director general of police, has however flayed the allegation, claiming that Correia was mentally unsound and was being counselled regularly by one of the priests, who was also beaten up. Fr Jose Anton Costa, the parish priest, however declines to comment on it, demanding a fair investigation.

Manohar Parrikar, the state opposition leader belonging to the BJP, however refuses to digest the theory. "It is like calling the dog mad and shooting him", he says, while recalling threats given by Alemao during election campaign to teach the priests a lesson for not campaigning for the Congress this time.

While the opposition leader has demanded independent enquiry into it through the agency like the CBI, de Souza feels Faleiro should immediately resign, owing responsibility for the attack and paving way for fair and impartial enquiry.

De Souza however denies the story that several priests were campaigning for him and not the Congress as has been the practice in Goa. "What is wrong if they appealed during sermons to elect educated and clean people", asks he, who has consistently projected himself as the educated candidate against semi-literate Alemao.

The chief minister however says he feels sorry for the parties like the BJP and the NCP for unnecessarily politicising the issue, when no injured priest has alleged that it was a politically motivated attack. He says even archbishop Raul Gonsalves was with him throughout the night and later in the day, accompanying the priests.

"In fact politicians should keep away from such dastardly incidents", he feels, while warning that the peace-loving Goans would not tolerate such communal and fanatic organisations to run the state.

But opposition parties insist that the police should not leave the angle of Alemao threatening in public to teach the priests a lesson soon after elections. Alemao however was not available for comments since he is out station.

Your Comments Please