Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)
Mangalore, Nov 12: Participating in the continued hearing of Justice B K Somashekhara Commission of Inquiry probing the church attack incidents on Wednesday November 11 in the city, Advocate Narayan Reddy, appearing on behalf of the police department, alleged that a medical certificate produced by one of the witnesses was false and that the certificate was created to suit the convenience of the witness concerned.
He was reacting to the allegations made by Gretta Gomes, a resident of Kulshekhar, that she had been inflicted with injuries to her back and thighs by the policemen, and that she had been treated at Father Muller Hospital in the city. She also produced a medical certificate issued by the said hospital before the Commission.
Reddy, who cross-examined Gretta, said that the certificate was created to suit the interests of Gretta and that the hospital concerned was not a government organization. In his counter-arguments, B Ibrahim, advocate for the Christian witnesses, said that Father Muller Hospital is one of the oldest hospitals in the city, although it is not being run by the government, and said that the hospital enjoys an irrefutable reputation in the region.
Reddy insisted that Gretta was not assaulted by sub-inspector Ganapati as stated, and that she had sustained only a minor injury during the control of the disturbances. Justice Somashekhar, interfering during the advocate’s argument, said that even a small cut is an injury, and every incident has to be decided based on material facts.
During the cross examination by pro-Bajrang Dal lawyer Jagadish Shenava, Paul Cyprian, one of the witnesses, concurred that the crowd that had gathered in the compound of Kulshekhar Church, had raised anti slogans against Bajrang Dal and the BJP. He said that the people had gathered at Kulshekhar Church on September 15, 2008, to condemn the attack on Milagres Church the previous day. To a question, he said that the protestors were engaged in a verbal friction with the policemen who came to the spot, but asserted that they had not thrown stones, bricks and soda bottles at the policemen.
When Cyprian earlier said that he never knew the boys from the Bajrang Dal earlier to the incident, Shenava argued before the Commission that the Bajrang Dal had nothing to do with the attack on Kulshekhar Church.
One of the witnesses, Mark, claimed that the Bajrang Dal activists had assaulted him during the incident in Kulshekhar church, but added that he could not file any police complaint in this regard.