Bishop accused of forgery: CEN 7.03.09 p 7. July 4, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of South India.trackback
A Bishop of the Church of South India (CSI) has been accused of forging a birth certificate—moving his date of birth a year forward so as to avoid mandatory retirement.
On June 29 lay leaders of the Diocese of Karnataka South staged a protest outside the office of the Rt. Rev. Devaraj Bangera in Mangalore. According to church sources the bishop was born on June 29, 1945 in Kasargod—making him 64 years of age on Monday. Indian canon law requires bishops to retire by their 65th birthday.
However, the protesters—members of the Protestant Christian Association—charge that the bishop was born on June 29, 1944. The bishop’s 1945 birth certificate produced in support of his claim to be only 64 is a forgery, the protesters claim.
They claim that a formal inquiry to the Kasargod municipal government under India’s Right to Information Act 2005 finds no 1945 birth certificate issued in the name of the bishop. However, municipal records do show that an individual with the same name as the bishop was born in Kasargod on June 29, 1944, the Times of India reports.
The bishop’s birthday spat is part of a long running dispute over the administration of the diocese located on southwestern India’s Malabar Coast between the bishop and lay leaders.
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