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."
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