Karnataka: Illegal statue of Jesus built on encroached land brought down by authorities in Kolar district

The Local administration in Mulbagal town of Kolar district demolished an illegal statue of Jesus Christ located in Gokunte, a village in Kolar district. According to the reports, the taluk administration, on the orders of Mulbagal Tehshildar Shobhita R, demolished a 20-feet illegal Jesus statue on Tuesday. The officers demolished the statue that was built on government land reserved for grazing animals.

On Monday, the officials, accompanied by hundreds of policemen, arrived in Gokunte. The illegal statue of Jesus that was built on encroached land was brought down around 3 am despite opposition by local residents. Shobhita said the High Court had ordered the demolition.

“We demolished the statue based on the High Court order,” Shobhita said. The officer added that the demolition was carried out after seven to eight hearings. The demolition order had been issued in March 2021, and the local administration had to submit a compliance report to the court by yesterday, the officer said.

Meanwhile, the local Christians have claimed that the statue demolition was illegal because the case was still pending in court. Speaking to the local media, they said that the incident has hurt the sentiments of the community. The Archbishop said that the local administration did not show any order to them.

“This is not the way the statue should have been demolished. There are intelligent ways in which it can be removed. They could have asked us to remove the statue, we would have done that. Our people were not allowed to go there. They were kept 200 metres away. All these insensitive things the government is doing is hurting us very much,” he lamented.

Selvarani G, a lawyer representing the Gokunte church, claimed the High Court had not given such orders.

Source : OpIndia