His Grace Most Rev. Bernard Moras- Archbishop of Bangalore met Chief Minister of Karnataka on 24th October, 2014 at his residence and shared Deepavali greetings. At the same time, Archbishop submitted a thanking letter to the Chief Minister and Cabinet Ministers for rejecting Somashekara Commission report, while requesting to follow up with the action against perpetrators.

A copy of the letter is here…

AB/GT 2/5708/14 24th October, 2014

Shri Siddaramaiah
Hon’ble Chief Minister
Government of Karnataka
Vidhana Soudha
Bengaluru – 560 001

Dear Shri Siddaramaiah,

Peace of Christ and Greetings from the Archdiocese of Bangalore. May the festival of light bring peace, joy and prosperity to you and all the people of Karnataka.

At the outset, let me on behalf of the entire Christian Community in Karnataka thank you and congratulate you and all your Cabinet colleagues as also the State Government for rejecting the Final Report of the Justice B.K. Somashekara Inquiry Commission, which was our demand from the time the final report was submitted to the State Government. We would like to especially thank you and express our warm fundamentalist appreciation for the assurance given to mete out justice to the Christian Community, particularly the victims who were inhumanly and brutally attacked and mercilessly tortured by the religious groups. Your party, at the time of the Church attacks in 2008 and 2009, had joined us in condemning the then Government for its partisan, lethargic and non-responsive attitude, as also for supporting the perpetrators for their acts of vandalism and lawlessness. We appreciate the assurance given to the Christian Community that its interest would be protected and to safeguard its religious fundamental rights.

As we may sadly recall, a series of attacks against the churches and our places of worship were systematically carried out in 2008 and 2009 by some religious fundamentalist groups in connivance with and the open support of the civil administration and the police officials. These shameful and condemnable incidents drew not only the attention and sympathies of the entire State and Country but also the whole world as the attacks were well planned and executed with a view to creating fear and insecurity among the members of the Christian community. What really surprised and shocked us was that all these attacks and vandalisms were carefully planned and methodically executed with the support and patronage of the then State Government and unfortunately some of the officers in the Government Departments and a few fanatic leaders of a particular religious community. When the church attacks took place, the entire Christian community condemned them and asked the then State Government to look into this matter and mete out justice to the Christian Community. Due to our repeated pressure, the then State Government had constituted the Justice Somashekara Inquiry Commission. This commission, in its interim report held a few fundamentalist religious groups responsible for the church attacks; but to our utter dismay, surprise and shock, exonerated all these groups and gave them a clean chit in its final report, by saying that such attacks were triggered allegedly by conversion by some Christian outfits. As this accusation of the commission was totally false and baseless, the entire Christian Community rose in protest and rejected the final report and demanded its rejection in toto.

As the final report of the Justice Somashekara Inquiry Commission was very unfair, it created displeasure and dissatisfaction to the Christian Community and we expressed our hurt feelings and religious sentiments to the then Government. Being deeply rooted in our trust in God, we prayed for the victims to get spiritual strength and courage to bear patiently the humiliations and pain and also for the perpetrators to come to their senses and change their attitude towards the Christians and other minority communities in the State.

We made several representations to the Government, the then Governor, the Human Right Commissions and other Bodies to get justice and to safeguard the Christian minority in the State. But we were grossly disappointed at the apathetic attitude of the then State Govt.

When the biased, partisan and totally one-sided Final Report of the Justice Somashekara Inquiry Commission was presented in January 2011 to the then State Government as mentioned above, the entire Christian Community rejected and condemned it. A number of protest Rallies were held all over Karnataka by the Christians, Members of the Human Rights Commission and the people of goodwill to express their solidarity with the suffering victims and the Christians.

A delegation of Catholic Bishops and the leaders of all Christian denominations had conducted a Prayer Service on February 19, 2011 at St. Mark’s Cathedral, and also held a dharna in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s Statue on M.G. Road. Later, on the same day, the delegation presented a Memorandum to Mr. R. Ashok, the then Deputy Chief Minister and also the State Home Minister, with a request to reject the final Report of the Commission and refer the church attack cases to the CBI for a fair and impartial inquiry.

The Christians also held a mammoth State-wide Protest Rally on February 22, 2011 at St. Francis Xavier’s Cathedral Grounds and urged the then ruling BJP government to reject it. But, our appeal was not complied with and justice was denied to us.

Dear Sir, on behalf of the entire Christian Community, I thank you and the State Government for rejecting the Final Report of the Justice Somashekara Commission, and may I also request the State Government –

• to implement the recommendations of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC);
• to provide compensation to victims of attacks whose properties were damaged, jobs and income were lost;
• to ensure security to Christian churches and institutions;
• to bring culprits to book through effective action;
• to disallow local religious fundamental groups to take the law into their hands;
• to take effective action against the officials who have colluded with the perpetrators of the violent attacks on churches and also for assaulting the Christians who sought to protest against such incidents;
• to train police in human rights and provide them special training to handle communal tension; and
• to instill confidence and to assure protection to the Christians in the State.

We hope that our requests will be favorably considered and immediately implemented since the Christian Community places its total confidence and trust in the State Government.

With best wishes and invoking God’s blessings upon you, the State Government and the People of Karnataka,

Yours sincerely,

Bernard Moras
Archbishop of Bangalore &
President – Karnataka Region Catholic Bishops’ Council (KRCBC) &
President – All Karnataka United Christian Forum for Human Rights (AKUCFHR)