The vandalisation of church comes two days after Christmas.
Mysuru:
A church in Karnataka’s Mysuru was vandalised by unknown people on Tuesday, the police said. They also damaged the statue of baby Jesus at the church.
The St Mary’s Church at Mysuru’s Periyapatna has been vandalised two days after Christmas.
Several police teams have been formed to trace the accused who are on the run.
Police are also checking the footage captured by CCTV cameras installed on the premises of the church to identify the accused.
A church staff saw the damage at 6 pm on Tuesday and immediately called a pastor. Police said the assailants had broken the back door to enter the church.
“We are scouting for clues from the CCTV footage recorded by nearby cameras. Prima Facie looks like it is theft, as they have made away with money, and also with one collection box that was placed outside the church,” said Seema Latkar, Superintendent of Police, Mysuru.
Several churches and Christian missionaries have faced the ire of certain religious and political outfits in the last few months over the allegations of forced religious conversion.
Last Friday, a group of men, armed with sticks, attacked a Christmas programme in Uttarakhand’s Uttarakashi alleging that forced conversions were being carried out there.
In Uttar Pradesh, two people were arrested on Monday for allegedly converting people to Christianity.
Karnataka passed the anti-conversion bill earlier this year that prohibits conversion “from one religion to another by use or practice of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by any of these means or by promise of marriage”.
With several BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh having laws to prevent forcible religious conversions, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had said last year that the state was “seriously considering” a similar law.
