Gujarat police halts chapel construction amid tribal deities dis-respect

Amid allegations that a member of the Christian community was building a chapel at a village in Dang district of south Gujarat after destroying idols of tribal deities, police have brought its construction to a halt. Police said although they found that the tribal deities had not been destroyed as alleged by a villager, they came to know that the land on which the chapel was being constructed belonged to the government.

"The chapel was being constructed at Kadmal village in Subir taluka of Dang district, around 375 kms from here," Circle Police Inspector C N Parmar said.

"A few days back, a villager named Sampat Puwar had approached Subir police with an application saying that former village sarpanch Ganpat Chaudhary, a Christian, was building a chapel after destroying idols of tribal deities kept in an open plot near Chaudhary's residence," he added. Based on his application, police officials reached the spot on Tuesday, Parmar said. "When we visited that particular place, we found no merit in Puwar's claims, as all the idols of deities were intact.

But we noticed that Chaudhary had started building a chapel near his house, which is close to that plot where these idols of tribal gods were kept," Parmar told PTI.

Kadmal village has a population of around 300 people, of which, 30 per cent are Christians, the police officer said. He added that the construction, which has reached up to the plinth level, was spread in an area measuring around 10X15 feet only. To ascertain whether the construction was legal or not, police called the revenue and forest officials of Dang district.

"The revenue officials told us that the particular land actually belonged to the government. It was close to a reserve forest land. Therefore, we have stopped the construction of the chapel. Chaudhary agreed to raze the existing structure," Parmar added.

(With inputs from agencies.)