May 3: Incidents of church and temple desecration are on the rise in the tourism state of Goa. On Sunday chief minister Digambar Kamat, home minister Ravi Naik and other politicians rushed to the sleepy village
of Curchorem, South Goa, when it came to light that three statues in the local Guardian Angel Church were vandalised. To make matters worse, the home minister, instead of assuring parishioners, said such incidents had become commonplace. His comment did not go down well at all with the locals.
Local police station in-charge Suresh Narvekar said that a nakabandi has been announced in the area to avoid any communal flare-ups. The miscreants damaged the head of the statue of Venerable Father Agnelo at the footsteps of the church and also broke the arms of the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. Another statue’s head was also hacked off.
Parish priest Ligorio D’Costa expressed sadness over the incident and said he could not fathom why anyone would do such a thing, “The church is open to people of all faiths, why would they do such a thing?” he asked. Though Mr Naik was not far off the mark regarding the occurrence of church and temple desecration, locals now want the government to do something. Some said rewards should be announced for information about the miscreants while others wanted night patrolling to be introduced.
On March 23, miscreants desecrated a cross and two statues in a cemetery in Chandor in South Goa. Though the police has filed a case, nothing has come out of it.
On October 18, 2009, Idols and religious items were desecrated in two temples in South Goa. The police had arrested one Razak Sheik in connection to the vandalism.
On August 4 last year, unknown miscreants had broken into the famous Cabo de Rama church, brought down all the statues from the alter and left them lying in a row on the floor. Prayer books were strewn around the church and some had been scribbled in. The police did not seem interested in pursuing the case and had chalked it down to some “deranged” prank.