The attackers came in two motorcycles at 4:30am and pelted stones at the school’s windows and the glass pane covering the Grotto of St Theresa.
Mangalore woke up on Sunday to see windows of St Theresa’s School and a Grotto of St Theresa broken.
The incident took place in Bendoorwell. This has been the seventh such attack on minority institutions since 2008.
The attackers came in two motorcycles at 4:30am and pelted stones at the school’s windows and the glass pane covering the Grotto of St Theresa, the guiding angel of the school.
They fled when the watchman raised an alarm. The school management lodged a complaint with Kadri police station. It also sought protection for the school. Rose Celine, secretary of the Bethany Education Trust, which runs the institution, said the school was targeted in 2008 and 2009. Although complaints were lodged with the police, they did not apprehend the culprits. “Those behind Sunday’s attack and the organisations that support them should be punished so that they should not commit such attacks henceforth. The school building has sustained damage.
Moreover, the grotto of St Theresa has been attacked and it is an attempt to commit sacrilege,” she said.
In a related incident, the attackers stoned Padua High School building in Yeyyadi, damaging its window panes. They pelted stones at a grotto too, but since it was situated at some distance away, it was not destroyed.
“We are going to meet chief minister DV Sadananada Gowda, who will be in the city on Monday, and ask him to direct the police to arrest the culprits. We have also appealed to police commissioner Samantha Kumar Singh, who has promised to bring the culprits to book,” said Ivan D’Souza, a Catholic community leader.
Singh told DNA that they had started a crackdown on suspects.
“Our officers have been asked to intensify patrolling in all the 17 police station limits. They have been directed to take the help of the home guards wherever necessary. Night patrolling has been intensified in remote areas too,” he said. Police superintendent Labhu Ram said such incidents have not been reported from any other part of Dakhina Kannada district.
The present wave of attacks comes days ahead of LK Advani’s rath yatra entering Mangalore for the Karnataka leg.
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