Raid On Divine Retreat Centre Infringes On Minority Rights: Council By SAR NEWS
THRISSUR, Kerala (SAR NEWS) -- Thrissur Archdiocesan Minority Rights Protection Council has flayed the police raid at the Divine Retreat Centre (DRC) at nearby Muringoor, September 30. DRC, a venture of the Vincentian Congregation established in 1990 mainly for propagating the Word of God, has earned a pride of place among the pilgrim centres of the country, a spokesman for the centre told SAR News, October 10. Over 2.5 million devotees from various parts of India and abroad have visited the centre so far, he added. It conducts prayer services, preaching, discourses and sacraments throughout the year. Besides helping the devotees in their spiritual rejuvenation and liberation from alcohol and drugs addiction, the centre also conducts healing services. Though DRC was set up mainly for spiritual enrichment and retreats, it also houses a de-addiction centre, a 100-bed after-care home for AIDS patients, Saint Mary's Home for Mother and Child Care, a 150-bed general hospital, a tailoring school, Divine Printers and Publishers, Divine Voice monthly magazine, a bible college and Divine Diary Farm, providing gainful employment to over 1,500 persons, the spokesman said. DRC received an annual grant of Rs. 500,000 from the Central Government, Director of the Centre, Father George Panackal told SAR News October 8, while complaining on the police raid to the Opposition leader in the Kerala Assembly Oommen Chandy when he visited the centre. In a press note issued October 9, Father John Ayyankana, secretary of the Minority Rights Protection Council, said the police raid on DRC was a blatant infringement of the fundamental and minority rights guaranteed in the Constitution of India. The policemen behaved impolitely with the women inmates of the center, as the raiding team had no women police with it, the press note alleged. The policemen rudely interrogated even the Aids patients undergoing treatment at the DRC hospital. "The raid created an atmosphere of search for 'terrorists' at the center," the note added. The trend of encroaching on the places of religious worship of Hindus, Christians and Muslims by policemen in the name of allegations of bribe and corruption was on the increase recently, the note added. The Council has urged the government to show readiness to respect religious heads and their institutions and the directions of the law courts. If the government attempted again to humiliate the DRC, the faithful would resist it at any cost, Father Ayyankana said. Meanwhile, the Director of the Centre, Father Panackal told the former Chief Minister of Kerala, Oommen Chandy, at Muringoor October 8 that the raid was a deliberate attempt to insult the DRC. The policemen had disturbed Holy Mass at the centre in the name of raid and supply of meals to the patients was considerably delayed, he said. The Kerala High Court had directed the government to investigate the various activities of the retreat centre following an anonymous letter to the court, Panackal added. Justice K. Padmanabhan Nair of the Kerala High Court, acting suo motu on an anonymous letter, ordered March 10 an investigation into the alleged "criminal and antisocial activities in the DRC". _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
