Addressing a news conference at Deputy Commissioner’s office on Thursday, Justice Nayak opined that looking at the format in which the attacks were executed, it is clear that there is a consented deliberation behind it.
“The attack was not a stray incident. Several centres of worship were attacked in different places at the same time in the same manner, which means that it was an planned attack. If the intelligence could not detect the obvious, what is the use of having it,” he questioned and asked the Government as to why it has been so difficult for the Government to bring to book or to ban the organisations behind the attacks, despite one organisation publicly claiming responsibility of the attack.
Coming down heavily on Home Minister Dr V S Acharya for calling the recent attack at Bhatkal as a ‘trivial’ incident, Justice Nayak said that people holding high positions should speak responsibly.
“Attack on religious centre is more heinous and dangerous than the murder committed for personal gains. This is not a trivial issue. Attacking religious centre means attacking the faith and belief system of a section of people, which can tear down entire social fabric into peices. It is so sensitive a issue that it can engulf and burn down the belief that human beings have on each other,” he said and warned the Government to take action against those behind such attacks without any consideration. He opined that if at all the culprits of 2008 church attacks were identified and punished, such incidents would have not recurred. He informed that he has sent a notice to the Government seeking details of number of people arrested in connection with the 2007 church attack and action taken against them.
Justice Nayak declared that the people enjoying high position in the Government are undoubtedly behind the church attack. “People with well defined ideology are behind this attack and Government despite knowing those individuals well, is not going ahead to take action,” he said and added that Sri Ram Sene activists had written a letter to the Assistant Commissioner of Bhatkal before the Church attack there, stating that they would attack Christians and the churches in India, if attack on Indians in Australia does not stop. Though these miscreants should have been put behind bars, they are roaming out in open, he lamented.