A church was vandalised and a statue of baby Jesus was left damaged in India’s southwestern Karnataka state, just two days after Christmas celebrations.
The St Mary’s church in Mysuru city was defaced on Tuesday, according to the police, who are tracing surveillance footage to identify the accused.
The suspect reportedly entered the church after breaking into the back door. The staff noticed the damage to the church at 6pm local time and intimated the pastor, who filed a complaint with the local police.
The stolen money from the church’s donation box led the police to suspect the vandalism to be an act of theft, based on a first impression. “We have formed special teams and the probe is underway,” superintendent of police Seema Latkar said.
Police said the vandalism cannot be concluded as an attack on the church as the other statues of Jesus were left untouched.
“There is no CCTV camera installed on the church premises. The nearest CCTV is located at a school and we are going through visuals for further probe,” The Indian Express newspaper quoted a police officer as saying.
There have been a spate of targeted attacks on Christians, churches and missionaries across the country around the festive season over allegations of forced conversions.
Just a day earlier, a police complaint was slapped against a Christian pastor in the northern Uttar Pradesh (UP) state. A right-wing activist alleged in his complaint that the pastor was “enticing” a crowd of 100 people to “convert to Christianity”.
This story was originally published in independent.co.uk . Read the full story here