Udupi: Member of the National Commission for Women Neeva Konwar on Wednesday said that it had conducted an on-the-spot inquiry in the violence-hit areas in Mangalore.

Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, Ms. Konwar said that the commission had met women from various organisations, spoken to the victims of violence and visited hospitals and jails.

It had also spoken to Home Minister V.S. Acharya and the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda. The commission had asked the police not to harass innocent persons, she said. Deputy Commissioner P. Hemalatha and Superintendent of Police Pravin Pawar accompanied her.

Ms. Konwar said the attack on the prayer hall in Udupi was similar to the one on prayer halls in Mangalore. She had spoken on telephone to K.A. Abraham, pastor of New Life prayer hall, at Shiroor, and had recorded his statement. Mr. Abraham was receiving treatment in a hospital as he was injured in the attack on September 14, she added.

She said that the commission had not received any complaint of forcible conversion in Udupi district. The commission would submit a report to the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister.

Udupi: Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities Mohamed Shafi Qureshi said on Wednesday that the commission had not received any report of forcible conversion from the district administration nor was there any FIR to that effect in Udupi district.

Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Qureshi said that some forces appeared bent on creating disharmony in society. Rumour mongering on sensitive issues was not desirable.

Every Indian had the right to profess and propagate any religion. “Conversion by force is not permitted,” he said He said that if there was any forcible conversion, there was the law and order machinery to which complaints could be lodged. Nobody could take law in their own hands on the pretext of alleged conversions. “We have so far not been able to find any forcible conversion here,” he said.

Mr. Qureshi said that the commission had visited places affected by communal violence in Orissa, Indore, and had completed its visit in Udupi.

After visiting all the affected areas hit by communal violence, the commission would submit a detailed report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said.

Member of the National Commission for Minorities Harcharan Singh Josh and Member of Delhi Minorities Commission Arnold James were present.

Earlier, Mr. Qureshi visited the New Life prayer hall which was vandalised by miscreants allegedly belonging to a pro-Hindutva organisation on September 14.

He heard the grievances of Pastor Gopinath of New Life prayer hall and other devotees. Mr. Qureshi also had a meeting with the Parish Priest of Mother of Sorrows Church Mathew Vas.

Speaking to presspersons Mr. Vas said that the commission had asked him about the situation prevailing in the district.

He had told the commission that the situation at present was peaceful in the district, but there was a sense of fear among the Christians. A peace committee meeting has been called by the Udupi district administration on September 20, he said.

Udupi: President of the State unit of the Mahila Congress Rani Satish has criticised Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa for not ordering a judicial probe into the attacks on Christian prayer halls in the State.

Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, Ms. Satish said there appeared to be a pattern in the attacks. The Government had failed to protect the people in the affected districts of Davangere, Chikmagalur, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi.

“The attacks on prayer halls in different districts all within the span of a fortnight have raised several questions,” she said.

Ms. Satish said that a team from the Mahila Congress visited the affected areas in Mangalore city. It visited prayer halls, jails and hospitals and had spoken to the victims of the violence.

“The people have suffered at the hands of the miscreants and the police. Even nuns had to bear the brunt of violence. They were chased and attacked,” she alleged.

Ms. Satish said that of the 86 people arrested in Mangalore, 44 had been sent to a prison in Madikeri. She said that a majority of those arrested were Christians and there were many innocent persons among them. “Even people visiting hospitals have been arrested. They should be released immediately. If this is not done, it could further complicate matters,” she said.

She said that it was being said that the genesis of the attacks on prayer halls was in some literature (allegedly showing Hindu gods in poor light) which were allegedly distributed. If that was so, action should be taken against the persons who were printing and distributing such material. There was no point in resorting to violence on that pretext. The team from Mahila Congress had not come across any case of forcible conversion, Ms. Satish claimed.

General secretary of State unit of Mahila Congress Shyamala Bhandary; president of the Udupi district unit of Mahila Congress Veronica Carnelio; general secretary Jayasri Krishnaraj; and former presidents of Udupi Zilla Panchayat Sarasu Bangera and U. Vanajakshiwere present.

Udupi: Atul Rao, accused in the Padmapriya Bhat case, on Wednesday said that he has been made a scapegoat in the case.

Padmapriya Bhat, wife of Udupi MLA K. Raghupati Bhat, was found dead in a flat in New Delhi on June 15. She had allegedly committed suicide.

Speaking to presspersons here, Mr. Rao said: “I am totally innocent. I neither kidnapped her nor was I responsible for her death. I have full confidence in the courts. I am confident that I will win the case in the court.”

Mr. Rao said that he would not insist on a CBI probe in the case. “I got bail in the case with great difficulty. But I will be happy if there is a CBI probe,” he said.

Replying to a query, he said: “Padmapriya Bhat wanted to live independently. I helped her because she asked for help. By helping her, I have landed in trouble.” In reply to another question, he said that he had talked to Padmapriya Bhat on June 14 on the telephone in front of the then Superintendent of Police of Udupi district Devajyothi Ray.

“I have told all the facts to the police team investigating the case,” he said.

Answering another question, he said: “If I had gone to her flat in New Delhi on the morning on June 15, she would have survived”.

Mr. Rao said he was taken to New Delhi by a police team from the State. But they had reached the flat at around 2.30 p.m. or 2.45 p.m. on June 15. (But he learnt of her death at 8.30 p.m. on June 15), he said.

Asked if there was any threat to his life, Mr. Rao said: “I don’t fear any threat to my life. I have not received any threat calls. But if anything happens to me, only “he” (Raghupati Bhat) would be responsible for it.” He said that his friendship with Mr. Bhat “is a closed chapter.”

Mr. Rao said that he had sought to be shifted to Mangalore Jail after there was an attempt to attack him in the Udupi Sub-Jail on July 2. Mr. Rao was shifted from Udupi Sub Jail to Mangalore Jail on July 5.

Manipal, September 17: There people, who went to have bath in the Arabian Sea at Malpe beach here on Sunday, had gone missing. The bodies of two of them were recovered by the police at Thottam village on Monday.

According to Malpe police, Satish and Anand (29), who were working in the KPTCL in Mangalore, had gone there with friends for picnic.

However the body of another drowned, Manoj Kumar Chaurasia (25) is yet to be found. The bodies of Anand and Manoj Kumar Chaurasia were recovered at Thottam on Monday, the police said. The victims might have been carried away by the waves, the police added.

Udupi: Senior vice president of Janata Dal (Secular) and former Deputy Chairman of Legislative Council David Simeon on Monday urged the Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa to take urgent steps to protect the Christian community in the State.

Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Simeon, who is also the president of Karnataka Rajya Christa Sangha Samsthegalu, said that no conversion of any kind was going on in any church or prayer hall. If any conversion did take place, it was with the free will of the people concerned. No inducement of any kind was being offered to anyone to get converted. “We condemn forced conversions of all kinds,” he said.

He said that the pastors did not blame other religions while preaching in prayer halls, as was being alleged. “There have been series of attacks on the Christians and their prayer halls in Davangere, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Chikmagalur in the last 15 days,” he said.

Alleging that the policemen remained mute spectators to the attacks on prayer halls, he said no arrests had been made in this connection. “All this makes it appear as though the State Government is indirectly supporting the perpetrators of these attacks,” he said. Terming the attacks occurring in the home district of Home Minister V.S. Acharya as “regrettable”, he said these incidents would remain a blot on Dr. Acharya’s tenure as a Minister. He said the Government should give compensation to those injured in the attacks and pay for the damage done to the prayer halls. Convener of the State unit of Bajrang Dal Mahendra Kumar was under the wrong impression that the book “Satya Darshini”, which allegedly portrayed Hindu gods in poor light, had been published by Christians. “The book was not published by Christians,” Mr. Simeon said.

Udupi: The Udupi district Congress committee on Monday urged the State Government to initiate legal action against those who were behind the attacks on prayer halls in Udupi and Dakhsina Kannada districts.

In a memorandum submitted to Deputy Commissioner P. Hemalatha, the committee alleged that the attackers had disturbed the sanctity of prayer halls. It was incumbent on the part of the Government to protect the life and property of people. The people responsible for the September 14 incidents should be brought to books and punished, the memorandum said. Condemning the attacks, the committee said that the Government should make all efforts to maintain peace and harmony in the two districts.

In a press release here on Monday, the Insurance Employees Union condemned the attack on the prayer halls.

Udupi: The by-elections to the Kota zilla panchayat constituency in Udupi district will be held on October 5.

In a press release here on Monday, Deputy Commissioner P. Hemalatha said that nomination papers can be filed from September 17 to 24.

Nomination papers would be scrutinised on September 25 and the last date for withdrawal is September 27. Counting of votes would be taken up on October 7. The seat is reserved for “Backward Class A”. It had fallen vacant after Kota Srinivas Poojary of the Bharatiya Janata Party resigned from the Udupi ZP, following his election to Legislative Council.

Udupi: People who were praying at the “New Life”, a prayer hall, appeared undeterred by the attack on Sunday, even as the activists, allegedly belonging to a pro-Hindu organisation, ransacked the hall.

The devotees continued their singing of devotional songs even after the attack, while press photographers and television cameramen kept taking photographs there.

This is the second attack on the prayer hall. The previous attack on the 20-year-old prayer hall was on September 12, 2004. Robert Pais, who regularly attends the prayers at the New Life, said that a group of 15 miscreants barged into the hall from both the doors of the hall around 10.20 a.m. and began ransacking the place.

Mr. Pais said that the miscreants did not get more time otherwise the damage could have been more. They had come with a video camera just to mislead the people outside by making them believe that they had come there to film some function. “I am a Roman Catholic. I have been coming here since 1988 and no conversions are taking place here,” he said. Pastor Sunil from Shankarpura said that the activists might have thought that conversion activity was going on at the prayer hall.

“There is no conversion taking place here. Everyone comes here on their own,” he said.

Those injured in the Sunday’s incident have been identified as Suguna from Perampalli; Sumithra from Athrady; Ammanni from Neerebailur; Krishnappa from Rajeevnagar in Manipal; and a two-and-a-half-year-old Joshua. They were all treated at the District Government Hospital.