The Catholic Church in Mumbai has said it will ensure that there is no failure of justice in the Sunday's incident at Bandra where seven people were mowed down by a speeding Toyota Corolla car driven by a Catholic boy. All other occupants of the car -- four boys and a girl -- were also Catholics.

Though some members of the Church said that the religion of those held for the mishap was only incidental to the case, the Church said it will take a public stand similar to the one it had taken after the murder of a woman and her grandchild in Borivali three years ago by four Catholic boys.

The Church, in the meantime, has offered relief and assistance to the survivors of Sunday's accident.

 
Alyster Pereira
In the Borivali case, apart from counselling some of the witnesses in the case, members of the Church had worked closely with the public prosecutor to ensure that the accused were convicted.  "We will leave no stone unturned to ensure that the culprits in the Bandra case too will not go scot-free free. We are waiting for preliminary investigations to be over," Father Anthony Charanghat, spokesperson for archbishop of Bombay, said.

Though the Church said that it was too early to say whether it will offer similar counselling or support to the relatives of the Bandra victims, it said that the social justice cell that exists in the local church could be asked to take a look at the case.

The difference between the two cases is that while in the Borivali case both the victims and the perpetrators belonged to the same Church, the victims in the Bandra incident were homeless migrants. "First and foremost, this incident is culpable homicide and not murder like in Borivali. But drunken driving is also a serious offence and a sin," Charanghat said.

The Church had taken a strong public stand in the shocking murder of 54-year old Borivali resident  Leticia Mendes and her 16-month old grandson, Dylan Lobo, on November 19, 2003.

After the twin murders, the Church had said that it will not allow the accused to go scot-free free.

“The murders were mentioned in the sermons and there were prayers for the victims,” remembered a parishioner of I C Church, Borivali.

Later, the Church counselled Leticia’s husband so that he did not break down while recording his statement before the court. “His evidence was crucial and we gave him moral support because he was practically alone in the court, while the accused would turn out with a large number of relatives,” said Charanghat.

The main witness in the case, Glenda, Dylan’s mother, too was counselled by the Church. The accused were convicted mainly on Glenda’s statement.

“She was depressed and was not in a state of mind to record evidence. She had to be counselled till she came out of the depression,” said a court official.

 The Bandra incident has shocked the Catholic community because some of the youngsters held belong to prominent Catholic families. Clarence Gomes, a resident of Bazaar Road who has a 21-year son, said, “My son has a car and I insist that if he takes the car out, he should be back home by 10.30 pm.”

Joe Dias of Catholic Secular Forum, a community group, said the Church should use the incident to look at the issue of alcoholism in sections of the community.

“The Church in Goa has taken a very strong stand against alcoholism. Unfortunately, incidents like these will feed the stereotype of Catholics as alcoholics,” said Dias.

 However, others said it was too early to take a stand.

Dolphy D’souza of the Bombay Catholic Sabha said, “That the persons accused of driving the car are Catholics is only incidental to the case.

“The victims definitely need to be reached out to. But nothing more can be read into the case as of now.”

(malti)