MANGALORE : ” On September 15 no Christian had stoned anyone. It were the Bhajrangdal men themselves who attacked Christians while they were silently protesting. The Bhajrangdal men who did not want the Christians to attend the special mass, had staged rasto roko and resorted to stone pelting,” said Richard Monteiro, a resident of Bantwal, while deposing before the Justice Somashekhar Commission enquiring into the Church attack case.
Facing a cross examination from the Counsel from Bhajrangdal Jagadish Shenava, Monteiro said ” When the Christians were peacefully protesting, youth in the age of around 20 to 40, wearing saffrons shawls attacked us. They forcibly closed down the nearby shops. We had joined there only to peacefully protest against the agonies we suffered owing to the attacks and not to attack anyone,” Monteiro further said.
When Shenava questioned another witness Leonilla Rego as to how she identified the Bhajrangdal men during the church attacks, Rego said ” They could be identified seeing the saffron shawls around their neck and waist.”
Deposing before the Commission, another witness Anna Matilda D’Souza said so ” There was violence when there was peaceful mass prayer at Kulshekhar Church on September 15 following the September 14 incident. No lady police were present at that time. Not only that the authorities had not declared holidays for school that day. Our children were away in school when the incident took place.”
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