Three Assistant Sub-Inspectors of Police are among four Punjab policemen dismissed from service, over four months after they raided a priest’s house in Jalandhar without approval, a senior official said.

Senior police official of Patiala Mandeep Singh Sidhu on August 10 dismissed the four policemen, who are currently lodged in the Patiala Central Jail.

The four were part of a police party that raided the priest’s house in Jalandhar without any approval in April this year.

He said the policemen were dismissed following departmental inquiries.

Sidhu said the dismissed policemen include ASIs Joginder Singh, Rajpreet Singh, Dilbagh Singh and Head Constable Amrik Singh.

The Khanna police had in March initially claimed to have recovered 96.6 million rupees from six men including a church priest.

However, the priest had taken up the issue with the police and the Income Tax Department and sought that the entire 166.5 million rupees “seized” money be released forthwith.

The priest had claimed that the money was part of the business proceeds and accused the police of allegedly misappropriating some amount from the money they had seized from the premises.

The Patiala Police had held a depart-mental probe into the alleged role of ASIs Joginder Singh and Rajpreet Singh, whose statements helped the investigating team recover 46 million rupees. Two ASIs of the Khanna Police were arrested for allegedly pocketing 58 million rupees from the seized amount. A sum of 46 million rupees had been recovered from them so far.

Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury and a leading figure in the British establishment, will seek to encourage Indian leaders to affirm and implement Article 25 of the Constitution that guarantees freedom of religion during his forthcoming 10-day visit to the country.

Visiting at the invitation of the United Churches of North and South India, Welby, 63, will be accompanied by his wife and will travel to in Kottayam, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Medak, Jabalpur, Kolkata and Amritsar from August 31 to September 10.

Church of England leaders said he will travel to India from Sri Lanka, where he will express “solidarity” with Christians who were targeted in a series of bombings during Easter, which killed over 250 people.

Welby’s visit comes in the backdrop of a report earlier this month by the bishop of Truro commissioned by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that listed alleged attacks against Christians in India.

Bishop Ezra Sargunam of the Evangelical Church of India was among hundreds who joined various political parties in Tamil Nadu to protest the federal government repealing Article 370 of the Constitution that gave special status to Jammu And Kashmir State. They on August 7 tried to march towards Raj Bhavan, the residence of the governor, to express their displeasure.

Around 300 cadre and leaders of various political parties including Thamimun Ansari, legislator and general secretary of Manithaneya Jananayaka Katchi; Suba Veerapandiyan of Dravida Iyakka Tamilar Peravai, gathered at the Little Mount and moved towards Raj Bhavan. They were stopped by the police on the way, taken to a community hall located nearby and detained, newindianexpress.com reported.

Until August 2018, Sisters Lucy Kalapura and Lissy Vadakkel had very little in common except that they belonged to the same congregation and had somewhat similar names. But today they are perceived as partners in crime.

Sister Lucy became a target for disciplinary action after she joined the historic public protest for Mulakkal’s arrest, as she felt it her Christian duty to support a nun who was fighting a case of sexual abuse and rape – A nun who has got no support from those in positions of power within the Church hierarchy.

Sister Lucy’s articulation and method of engaging with her passion of working with people were constantly criticized for being out of step of the accepted congregational way of life of the Franciscan Clarist Congregation.

In Sister Lissy case, it was dramatically different – she had been a star of her congregation and of Church authorities because of her very powerful preaching skills. She was booked for retreats and meetings for months together.

A Jesuit’s book on Bihar’s Musahars will help sensitize society about one of the most deprived communities who live in abject poverty, hunger and deprivation, says a noted educationist.

The word “Musahar” (literally rat eater) is derogatory and not associated with profession or food habit, asserted Shanker Ashish Dutt, head of the Department of English in Patna University. He was speaking on August 11 at the release of “Musahars: a noble People, a resilient Culture,’ written by Jesuit Father T Nishaant, principal of St Xavier’s College and St Xavier’s College of Management and Technology, Patna.

Dutt and other speakers, including eminent social worker Padmashri Sister Sudha Varghese, called for change in the nomenclature of Musahar people, who fall under the ‘Mahadalit community’ or the most marginalized of the lot. People of the Musahar community eat meat of not only rats but of many other animals, Dutt pointed out, adding that they are also involved in digging of soil, apart from being working as watchmen.

Father Nishaant’s book, the university professor added, would “go a long way to sensitize people about one of the most deprived communities living in abject poverty, hunger and deprivation, in the social landscape.”

Sister Varghese agreed with Dutt while addressing the gathering as the chief guest. The term Musahar was “outdated” as the community members are no more rat eaters. People of other castes also ate rats, pointed out the Notre Dame nun who has worked with the Musahar community for more than 30 years.

Congratulating the author for the book, Sister Varghese said the Musahar community had been fighting for water, land, food for years. “Even today people of the community were fighting for survival,” she added.

Archbishop William D’Souza of Patna on July 31 urged students of a Jesuit college to imbibe right moral values as they strive to become achievers in life.

“All of us want to succeed in life. We want to be achievers. But the success does not come with wealth or by climbing the career ladder. It rests on certain values and principles,” said the Jesuit prelate, who was the chief guest at a function organized by St Xavier’s College of Management and Technology in Patna, to celebrate the feast of St Ignatius of Loyola, who founded of the Society of Jesus in 1554.

Heads of various religions in Bengaluru have commemorated the 800th anniversary of an encounter between Saint Francis of Assisi and Sultan al-Malik al-Kâmil of Egypt.

Although all religions aim at the same holy and spiritual aspects to lead a good life, unfortunately people do not follow even 10 percent of their tenets and teachings,” regretted Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore at the interreligious meet held on July 27 St Joseph’s Boys’ High School Auditorium, Bengaluru.

The archbishop joined Franciscans, the followers of Saint Francis of Assisi who work in the archdiocese to observe the anniversary.

Saint Francis was one of the greatest champions and advocates of harmony and it took tremendous courage for him to go to the sultan in the days of crusade. Sultan al-Kamil was also a good man. Francis’ resemblance of the poor and his approach towards all creatures attracted “the Sultan,” the archbishop said in his presidential address.

Representatives of other religions were Swami TattwarupanandaAdhyaksha of Ramakrishna Order, Mahamunivandaru Sritha Mahagatha, Giani Kewal Singh, M T Matheen, Shreya Vakil and J Bhavani.

Archbishop Machado spoke on Islam to highlight the relation Francis had with the sultan. The prelate said he likes the five pillars of Islam –Faith (Shahadah), Prayer–five times each day (Salat), Charity or alms-giving (Zakat); Fasting during the month of Ramadan (Sawm) and Pilgri-mage to Mecca (Hajj).

Archbishop encouraged all to visit pilgrim centers to increase one’s faith in God. He urged those present to become ambassadors of peace and harmony. “Ultimately, whatever be one’s religion, we all believe in one God,” he said and added, “Let make in India be translated into take from India – Peace and Harmony.”

The Supreme Court of India on July 23 granted bail to yet another of seven people, who have been languishing in jail for more than ten years in connection with the murder of a Hindu religious leader in Odisha, eastern India. India’s Supreme Court has ordered the granting of bail to the second of seven Christians convicted over the murder of a Hindu swami 11 years ago. Bijaya Sanaseth is the second of the seven to get bail from the country’s apex court in Lakshmanananda Saraswati case.

The Supreme Court read: “Considering the fact that the accused-appellant (Bijay Kumar Sanaseth s/o salei Sanaseth) had undergone ten years of his sentence and taking an over-view of the matter, we are of the opinion that the above mentioned accused appellant should be released on bail on such conditions as may be imposed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Phulbani in ST No16/18of 2013-2009.

A Christian organisation in the northeast, has questioned the motive behind the creation of a ‘Christian missionary cell’ at a time when the Centre is pushing an education policy to “homogenise Indian society.”

The BJP in Mizoram had, a few days ago, formed the cell to collect data on the community and connect with Mizos beyond the State. The church leaders felt that little respect was being shown to the autonomy of individual States.

“Those who work for the dominant party are formed into a Christian Missionary Cell, whose mission will be to collect data about Christian activities and pass it on to their opponents who wish to undermine the unity of the Christian service in the northeast,” the Assam Christian Forum said in a statement issued by its spokesperson Allen Brooks.