A day after Riyaaz Amlani, owner of Hipster bar Goregaon Social, apologised to the Archdiocese of Bombay for using Catholic iconography and symbols in his pub’s décor, the Archdiocese has released a statement saying that it has accepted the apology
Cops at the panchnama. Window panes with Christian iconography have been changed. Pic/ Sameer Markande
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A day after Riyaaz Amlani, owner of Hipster bar Goregaon Social, apologised to the Archdiocese of Bombay for using Catholic iconography and symbols in his pub's décor, the Archdiocese has released a statement saying that it has accepted the apology.
But, activists from NGO Watchdog Foundation, which had registered the FIR against the pub, said that it would continue its demand to have the bar’s licence revoked.
Amlani had apologised to the Archdiocese of Bombay on Wed-nesday, and in an interview to this paper said. In response, the Archdiocese said, “While we accept the apology in the spirit in which it was tendered…The message that the ‘Social’ group was apparently trying to put forward, certainly did not call for the decor used and could have been conveyed in other ways."
The offending images were taken down within hours of the FIR being registered against the pub on Wednesday. The complaint had been filed by the NGO’s trustees Godfrey Pimenta and Nicholas Almeida, who pointed out that the pub had stained glass windows with 'blasphemous' images of Jesus, Mother Mary, Moses and other Christian icons.
Though the Archdiocese has accepted the apology, Almeida said he would approach the ward officer today, demanding that bar’s licence be revoked. "It is my FIR, and my case...he (the owner) must have written to the cardinal/archbishop asking for forgiveness, and he must have been forgiven by them, but this act has hurt my religious sentiments, which is why I have filed the case," said Almeida.
The Archdiocese too conveyed to mid-day that since it was "not party to the FIR, it wishes to keep a distance from this issue".
Deputy municipal commissioner, (special), in-charge of license department of the BMC, Prakash Patil said, “If the police or court find anything offensive and direct us to revoke the licence of that particular pub, we can take action. In such cases, the local license department officer takes a call.”
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