Tribal community in Thane preparing for Christmas function attacked

A mob of around 50 people attacked members of a tribal community preparing for a Christmas event in Dorepada village in Thane’s Vikramgad taluk on Friday. Six people, including two policemen were injured in the attack.

For the past several years, Christian tribals in the area have been traveling to Vasai to celebrate Christmas fearing hostility from other tribal groups.

But this year, they decided to celebrate in the village after they were told that Dr Abraham Mathai, vice chairman of Maharashtra State Minorities Commission will be attending the function on Saturday.

Pastor Vijay Gonsalves of Vasai-based Emmanuel Ministries Trust, an evangelical group that has been organising prayers among the tribal community said that the villagers had been warned about an attack.

“It’s expensive to travel to Vasai, we decided to have the function in the village itself,” said Gonsalves.

Gonsalves added that fellow tribals have been resenting the sessions. Most people involved in Friday’s mob attack were from the same village and there are reports that some were drunk. “Women assaulted women,” said Gonsalves.

Incidentally, the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission had written a letter to state home minister R R Patil on December 22 saying that they were worries about attacks on Christmas prayer groups.

The letter had specifically mentioned Vikramgad as one of the places where people had been warned against holding prayers.

On Thursday night, a few police were posted at the villages, including Dorepada. Dr Abraham Mathai, vice chairman of Maharashtra State Minorities Commission said, “ I hold the police responsible since I had already informed them in advance of these expected attacks.”

Superintendent of Police, Thane (rural) Vishwas Nagre Patil was unavailable for comment. An official at Vikramgad police station said that a FIR has been registered against the attackers.

“Both the groups are from the same village and are relatives,” the official said adding that that there were around 40 people in the mob. “There have not been any arrests so far as the attackers had fled the village.”