Beaten by over 300 Hindus and
humiliated by the media, Brother Phillip Noronha, a missionary of the
Holy Cross and vice-rector of Holy Cross School in Whitefield
(Karnataka) now has to defend himself against false accusations of
sexual harassment brought by the parents of some students of his school.
Yesterday, the police, in complicity with the attackers held
him for over 2 hours in the local station of Whitefield, releasing him
only after payment of bail.
In the statement sent to local media, Brother Ray
Sesue, CSC, provincial superior of the Missionaries of the Holy Cross,
confirmed that all charges against the cleric are false and orchestrated
by Hindus.
He accuses police of being an accomplice of the attackers
whose aim is simply to expropriate the Catholic school’s land in favour
of the close by Hindu temple.
"There was a serious violation of human
rights against brother Phillip - he says - all the accusations are
unfounded infamy”.
The province notes that the authors of the beating,
including the parents of two students, have repeatedly threatened the
cleric for his excessive interest in the dispute over the ownership of
the land between the school and the Hindu temple.
The allegations of
harassment stem from when he was forced – while being beaten – to
admitted the use of bad language words in class.
"All of this -
continues Brother Sesue - confirms that these people had other reasons
to attack brother Phillip, than those they reported to the police and
the media.
He never - he continues - used foul language in class and has
never behaved inappropriately with students.
Brother Sesue denounces the conduct of the police who after the
beating held the missionary for over two hours, first to present his
version of events from reaching Whitefield authorities.
The province
also stresses that the accusations of harassment against brother Phillip
were submitted October 24, while the lynching took place on 23.
This
would have facilitated the trial against him.
"We ask the authorities - he adds - to take immediate action
against those who attacked brother Phillip and against all those who are
behind this conspiracy."