The State Human Rights Commission today issued a notice to the Central Prison authorities for allegedly obstructing Catholic priests from conducting Easter service for Christian inmates at the jail during their visit yesterday.Commission member S Varghese directed the jail superintendent to appear before the Commission on April 23 to explain the circumstances for the lapse on the part of jail officials.
It also asked the Director of General of Police (Prisons) to file a report. Meanwhile, top police sources denied reports that the priests were not permitted to conduct the mass.
Security men at the prison had initially objected to the priests carrying wine meant for the service. They were later allowed to go inside and conduct the mass, said the sources.
According to a top police official, there was no deliberate attempt to deny any religious or spiritual right of the inmates.
There was only some confusion regarding permission to allow wine inside.
The issue had also sparked a strong protest from the Latin Catholic Diocese here, who argued that it amounted to a move to deny the spiritual needs of prisoners.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce