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Mysterious fire guts Delhi church, foul play suspected 

New Delhi, December 02, 2014: A mysterious, early morning fire destroyed one of East Delhi’s big churches, St Sebastian’s Church in Dilshad Garden, prompting allegations of foul play by the Christian community.

Police have registered an FIR against unknown persons under section 436 (mischief by fire with intent to destroy house) of IPC.

The blaze started in the early hours of Monday and reduced to ashes the church’s interior, including the altar, the Holy Bible, Cross and all images and statues. Several churchgoers stood outside the charred remains of the 13-year-old shrine the entire afternoon, protesting against what they believed was a planned assault.

Delhi archbishop Anil Couto has in a memorandum to PM Narendra Modi and home minister Rajnath Singh demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident. Couto also alleged that the police took a long time to react to the fire and were late in sending officers and forensic units to collect evidence.

Archbishop Couto, in his memorandum, demanded that the government must repair the building before Christmas, ensure that policemen guilty of dereliction of duty are punished and that special police investigation teams are set up to trace the guilty.

The fire department said they received a call at 7.26am. Four fire tenders dispatched, which took less than five minutes to reach the spot, officials said. "On arrival, we saw the whole place burning furiously. It took us 40 minutes to control the blaze," said a senior Delhi Fire Services (DFS) official. 

Police officials aren’t ruling out a planned assault. "We have initiated a probe and all angles are being pursued. The statements of various people have been recorded and evidence is being examined. The crime and forensic teams have inspected the site and lifted samples including fingerprints and others," a senior officer said.

The first to arrive on the scene, apart from a permanent chowkidar, was the parish priest, Father Antony Francis. "It was around 6.30 in the morning. Within 10 minutes of receiving a call from the chowkidar, who suddenly saw flames coming out of church windows, Father Francis reached the spot. He called others and everyone got busy trying save the church," said Father Stanley, another priest of the church.

He added that there was an overwhelming stench of kerosene in the entire church when he reached it. "Traces of it could be seen floating on water with which fire tenders had flushed our church. Undoubtedly this was planned vandalism," said Father Stanley.

Visitors to the church on Sunday didn’t recall observing anything strange. "While Sunday prayers are important, yesterday was especially important for me as there as children were receiving their first holy communion and my daughter was among them. We left the church around 11 in the night and there was nothing amiss," said Anthony Joseph.

He said around 600 people attend the Sunday mass.

The church is surrounded by religious sites. On one side lies Shri Varadha Ganesh Mandir, in front of which is a crematorium, and on its other end is an orthodox Syrian church. Local Christians, of whom there are about 1,500 families, say they have lived peacefully in the area so far.

They, however, recall one instance of vandalism against the same church. "In 2010, this church was stoned by some people. We still don’t know why. So this assault is not new but is still terribly upsetting," said Roby Matthews, a regular at St Sebastian’s. The church is visited by Catholics from Dilshad Garden, Anand Vihar and Lakshmi Nagar.

- toi

Delhi church fire raises fears of communal aggression

New Delhi, December 02, 2014: A fire that destroyed the interior of a Catholic church in New Delhi on Monday morning has raised concern that the country’s Christian miniority is being intentionally targeted.

A guard at Saint Sebastian Catholic Church – empty at the time of the fire – notified the parish priest at about 6am, and the fire brigade was called, lay leader John Dayal told an afternoon press briefing at the church attended by Archbishop Anil Cuto of Delhi.

"The police took their own time to come. They said a forensic team would be arriving soon, but they have not yet reached," Dayal said.

"The police are not serious about this crime, which is communal in nature," he added.

Police officer S Chauhan, under whose area the church falls, said police are investigating all angles, and until their probe is over they cannot speak about details of the investigation.

“The first step is to collect evidence and determine the cause of the fire," he said, adding that the investigation has only just started.

An earlier statement by police suggested that the fire had been the result of faulty electrical wiring.

Archbishop Cuto said the Church had "full faith" in the investigation and it would not be right to pointing accusing fingers at anyone until the facts of the investigation were known.

But Father Thomas Paul, a New Delhi-based priest, questioned why the guard did not notice the fire sooner. “We have so many unanswered questions.”

Parishioners had questions as well, along with demands. As news of the fire spread, about 500 people gathered at St Sebastian to demand a judicial inquiry into the fire as an act of intentional aggression against the Christian community.

- ucan