Goa: Catholic priest booked for remarks about Shivaji

A Catholic priest was on Friday booked for allegedly hurting religious sentiments after he made a statement about the Maratha king Shivaji during a sermon, reported The Indian Express.

Bolmax Pereira, the parish priest of St Francis Xavier Church in Chicalim town, was booked after about 100 people, including members of Bajrang Dal and Rajput Karni Sena, protested outside a police station, demanding action.

Pereira, during his sermon, had said that Shivaji “was a national hero but not a god”, according to The Indian Express.

“We have to have a dialogue with our Hindu brethren and ask them ‘Is Shivaji your god? or a national hero’,” the priest had said. “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”.

After a clip of the sermon was shared on social media, Hindutva bodies criticised the priest for his remarks. A man identified as Kiran Naik and other residents of Mormugao city filed a police complaint on the basis of which a first information report was filed.

The FIR said that Pereira deliberately posted a video of his sermon on social media “with the intent to outrage religious feeling...

Read more