DySP Ganapathi had Beaten Catholics, Priests and Nuns

DySP Ganapathi had Beaten Catholics, Priests and Nuns

During the year 2008 when Church attacks took place, DySP Ganapathi who was Circle Inspector at Kadri Police Station, he along with other two senior cops had mercilessly beaten priests, nuns and Catholics- Do You Know That? A complete explanation below by Former Bombay High Court Judge, Michael Saldanha, a Mangalorean reveals the ordeal. Lest We Forget!

Mangaluru: The suicide of DySP Ganapathi seems like a political issue, with both the ruling Congress Party and the opposition arguing over the incident. Even though DySP Ganapathi had given a statement to a TV channel that a minister and two other higher police officials were responsible for his depression, in the same time he could have apologized and said sorry for his brutal act in thrashing a priest at Permannur Church, near Ullal-and nuns at a school near Kulshekar Church. But he kept numb, and only had spoken about the case of 2008 Church attacks being again charged on him – that could have led to more depression. While BJP and other activists have been strongly condemning DySP Ganapathi’s incident, but how many of them have come forward in protesting against the brutal murder of Vinayak Baliga, which was master-minded by a saffron activist.

In any job, unless you are in the top post or in a management duty, there is always stress and pressure from higher authorities – that’s how life at a workplace is these days. Not only in India, even abroad, ask people who work in USA, Europe or Gulf Countries – most of them work under stress and depression. No one commits suicide – they know that life is precious – and committing suicide is a crime. In India, The Section 309 in the Indian Penal Code lays down the punishment for attempted suicide. The maximum punishment which can be awarded is imprisonment for a term of 1 year. Taking a drastic step by committing suicide is not the right thing to do for stress or depression. In the case of DySP Ganapathi’s suicide, it should be left to the CID to do a thorough investigation and bring justice to the case. Protest and unrest in the cabinet will not serve the purpose.

While many organizations have come forward in support of DySP, but has anyone pointed about the role of Ganapathi as a circle inspector during the 2008 Church attacks in Mangaluru, where he had thrashed religious Catholic persons, including the Faithful, and had also ordered his police force also to do so. It is also learnt that Ganapathi was suspended twice during the BJP government then. All his acts have been recorded by a couple of TV channels as per Retd. judge Michael Saldanha. Following detailed report submitted to Team Mangalorean by Saldanha will explain it:

LEST WE FORGET: by Former Bombay High Court Judge Michael Saldanha

The suicide of DySp Ganapathi was undoubtedly tragic and the impact on his family has been devastating. I feel deeply for all of them and more so for the many false statements made by the powers that be in their defense which only add to the hurt. Let me remind these who belong to the rich and the powerful sector that in law there is such a thing as “Right of Privacy” and more importantly that even a dead man cannot be unjustifiably defamed – I have enforced both these concepts rigorously as Judge of the Bombay High Court which made Global Headlines.

Unfortunately, what stands out is something else. In the year 2008, Mangaluru witnessed the type of communal violence that would have put the ISIS to shame. While the Media projected it as being Communal Attacks directed by another community against the Catholic Community and their places of worship the truth was otherwise. The then Home Minister who belonged to this District and a set of Police Officers directed by him, instigated and encouraged and given the total confidence that nobody would or could touch them,unleashed the type of violence and brutality which was unprecedented.

Since Judicial Enquiries in this country have spent crores of Rupees and turned out to be a farce, but what is even worse, a complete cover-up for all the atrocities that have taken place, the Citizens of India have zero faith in such exercises and dismiss them as a total fraud to shield the guilty. We, therefore, set-up in 2008, a Peoples’ Tribunal Enquiry which was not funded by the State or by anybody else but we looked after or own modest requirements. I headed the inquiry and personally gathered the evidence, scrutinized it, sifted it and finally produced a Report that made Global Headlines. A few copies of the Report is Kannada and Konkani and CD’sof the English Report are available -please contact William Pais at 9742037081

The findings recorded by the Enquiry conclusively indicated that the Violence which was all one way was perpetrated by the State Machinery i.e. the Police and that there was zero justification for this. The Home Minister stated that the persons who had assembled refused to disperse even though Sec.144 was promulgated. I examined the facts and the law and conclusively held that this was downright false and that no such order has been promulgated and that even if it were to have done that there was zero justification for the step.

The Home Minister made a laughing stock of himself by stating that it was the Christian Congregation who attacked his heavily armed Police forces and that was why the Police ran wild, broke the heads of 151 innocent youth, caused fractures and serious injuries to 690 Senior Citizens of the age group of 70 and above and that too, Ladies and Nuns. In the Kulshekar attack where the Police entered into a Girls School and mercilessly assaulted everyone inside 388 Young Girl Students, 19 Nuns and 163 Mothers of the Students sustained injuries of seriousness. In this incident, which was led by police Inspectors, Ganapathi and Jayanth Shetty, the two of them stormed into the Office of the Head Mistress who was a Nun, smashed the Furniture, assaulted her with Lathis and even hit her in the face, shattering her glasses and causing very serious injuries.

Let me just quote one instance relating to the Peramanur Church. The Sunday Morning Mass was going on and there were about 340 persons of all ages participating in a very sacred service. Police Inspectors Ganapathi and Jayanth Shetty arrived there with three Truck Loads of Armed Police, led by the SP. Satish. The Church was surrounded and all the doors were locked. Ganapathi and Shetty entered the Church, walked up to the Altar, beat-up the Priest – the Celebrant and the next thing they did was to get up on the Altar with their Boots and Kick the Sacred Chalice and Hosts and everything including Statues on the Alter were smashed by these two officers.

They then called in the Police and led the type of barbaric assault on every man, woman and child present in the church and not one of them escaped without serious injuries. Most of them received Head Injuries and it took something like ten days to clean-up the Blood. Unfortunately for these officers apart from the Local media the BBC & CNN were present at everyone of these atrocities and they have taken Videos which I have scrutinized very carefully. These were then shown to the whole world. How could anything of this type be Justified or Condoned?

Ganapthi and Shetty along with Satish under the express Directions of the then Home Minister then arrested as many of the injured persons whom they could catch hold of. This was done so that they were denied Medical Help and there could be no concrete evidence. How sinister were these Police Officers and Home Minister Acharya, because during these attacks a total of 3879 injured persons were arrested. Mercifully, none of them died because they were put into trucks and taken to different cities as far as Hubli, Belgaum, Bijapur, Gulbarga etc. The Local people on the way and at those places gave them some relief. These are all simple innocent people some of whom remained in custody for up to ten months – nobody even arranged for Lawyers for bail and they have been completely ruined. These officers followed-up these wicked deeds by filing charge sheets in over 2000 cases and it took the next three years of hell for the victims because these cases never went on and were ultimately dropped as they were all false proceedings.

I am beholden to the Media because in the Milagres Church incident where the very sacred Adoration Monastery was smashed and the Congregation which had gathered were not only lathi-charged but teargas was also used. These attacks were again led by Ganapathi and Shetty along with Satish. They started hurriedly gathering the empty tear-gas shells and the Media persons picked up some of them as they were curious as to why this was being done. They produced the Shells before me during the Enquiry and we found that these shells had been used nine years after the Expiry Date and these Police Officers did not want that fact to come out. The result was that over 400 persons landed in hospitals, some of them in the ICU because the Gas was toxic and could cause death. This fact emerged when I visited the various hospitals, spoke to the persons and the doctors and checked the Medical Papers.

The Home Minister alleged that the Christian Congregation had stoned the Police. The Media had again picked-up some of these “Rock Pebbles” and produced them before me because again Ganapathi and Shetty along with their troops were busy collecting these Missiles after each incident. My Investigations reveal that there were no stones at any of the places of the incidents. These Police officers had procured these rock pebbles from the river sites in a Tempo and then used them and over a hundred persons had suffered serious injuries because these can be lethal.

Lastly, when I confronted these Police Officers with this indefensible evidence they were arrogant and defiantly told me that they had the full protection and backing of the Home Minister and the Govt. and that nobody could touch them. What stood-out in these cases was the savage levels of Violence and Cruelty that were demonstrated and the mental make up of these Police Officers and what was even more dangerous was the fact that they were motivated by unprecedented levels of hatred against the Christian Community- that was what shocked and distress the world leaders

Like the NAZI War Crimes, these atrocities cannot be forgotten or played –down. There is a nemesis that catches up on all those involved in these incidents, it is too dangerous to forget them because the danger of repetition would then arise.

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