Mother Mary grotto vandalised at Malad church

Mumbai: The Malad police are looking for an unidentified person who vandalised the glass cover of the Grotto of Mother Mary opposite Our Lady of Lourdes Church on Thursday

Mumbai: The Malad police are looking for an unidentified person who vandalised the glass cover of the Grotto of Mother Mary opposite Our Lady of Lourdes Church on Thursday. After a complaint was lodged by locals, the police have begun scanning the CCTV footage of the area to identify the miscreant. No FIR has been lodged as yet.

HT Image

Bonny Pereira, a parishioner of Our Lady of Lourdes church, Orlem (Malad), said that parishioners heard early in the morning that the grotto had been stoned by a miscreant at 5.30 am. “Three years ago, our crucifix was damaged by a drunkard and the case was hushed up. This grotto is not a graded structure but it is a century old and has heritage significance,” he said.

Dolphy Dsouza, president of the Bombay Catholic Sabha, in a press release said that the community wanted the Mumbai police to seriously investigate the motive, as the incident came close on the heels of the vandalisation of St Michael’s graveyard at Mahim on Jan 7, 2023. “We also urge the Mumbai police to step up security to ensure that such episodes don’t happen anywhere else in the city of Mumbai,” said D’Souza in the press release.

Dsouza told HT that the church priest had visited the police station and submitted CCTV footage as well. “The police are investigating the matter,” he said.

According to Pereira, 30 years ago devotees would say their noveenas at the grotto but because of the increased traffic in the area, this ritual was stopped.

“The grotto is 50 feet away from the church,” he said. “It has hurt our sentiments but people are not narrow-minded and will rely on police action. All parishioners of Orlem will protest silently tomorrow.”