PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa has issued notices on a petition filed by Fr Bolmax Pereira, who approached the court seeking the quashing of the FIR lodged against him.
After the matter came up for hearing and was briefly argued by Advocate V Braganza, the High Court bench of Justices M S Sonak and Bharat Deshpande issued notices to the respondents returnable by December 11.
Fr Pereira was booked for his comments made during a sermon that was uploaded on YouTube after a large crowd of people gathered outside the Vasco Police Station demanding that he be arrested for his comments.
On August 22 this year, around 150-200 Shiv premis (lovers of Shivaji) gathered outside the police station in the port town of Vasco demanding the arrest of the Catholic priest and social campaigner Pereira over the comments he made during a religious celebration concerning Shivaji.
Despite the police having booked Fr Pereira under sections 295A (deliberate acts to outrage religious feelings), and section 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), based on a complaint that was filed, the crowd refused to relent and asked that he be arrested.
In a video that circulated on social media, Fr Pereira had said that while the Maratha warrior king was a ‘national hero’, “some people had made him into a god.”
“There are a few people for whom Shivaji has become a god. Shivaji is not a god. Yes, he's a national hero. We have to honour and respect him. What he has done, the battles he has fought to protect his people, for all that he deserves respect. He is a hero, but not a god.
"But today the Hindutva-vadis have come forward and have made him a god. We have to have a dialogue with our Hindu brethren and ask them: Is Shivaji your god? or a national hero? If he is a national hero, let it be at that. Don't make him a god. We need to understand their perspective. If we live in fear, we will not be able to rise again,” the priest was heard saying in a sermon that was delivered in the context of attacks on Christians.
The priest later apologised if he had hurt the sentiments of the people and said that his comments were taken out of context.
