The brouhaha over theft incident in Holy Child Auxilium school is unfounded. Delhi Police top brass on Friday rubbished the very idea that there was pattern about missionary schools and churches being targeted in the national Capital. The data available with Delhi Police states that 206 temples, 30 gurdwaras, 14 mosques were burgled in the year 2014 as compared to three churches being targeted by thieves. In the current year too, thefts have taken place in 14 temples, two mosques, four gurdwaras and one church. Delhi Police officials say incidents of thefts and burglaries should not be bracketed as communal ones.
The sheer amount of media attention on the simple incident of theft in the upmarket school situated in posh Vasant Vihar has sent Delhi Police officials into a spin. Meetings were held in the police headquarters to take stock of the emerging situation. later Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi made it amply clear that the incident being reported as an act of vandalism is a simple case of theft. “Investigators are on the job and the culprits will be brought to justice,” Bassi said.
A close look at the incident of thefts in places of worship in the city is an eye opener. According to Delhi Police statistics, there are 208 churches in the city and only three incidents of theft were reported in the year 2014 while 206 thefts/burglaries that took places in the corresponding period across the city. Similarly 30 gurdwaras and 14 mosques were targeted by thieves. In the current year too the number of incidents is far more than the churches.
A senior police official said, “It is wrong to accord motive to cases of thefts or burglaries. A crime is a crime irrespective of places and time. There is no pattern in Christian institutions and places of worship being targeted. Records speak for themselves. We have registered FIRs in all such cases and in most of the cases culprits were arrested and sent to judicial custody,” the official added.
The incident that took place in the premises of Holy Child Auxilium school is one of such incident. Preliminary investigations have revealed that it was an insider’s job. The intruders knew where the cash was kept and they managed to take away the cash after breaking the lock, the official further added.