‘Incapable or Uninterested’: Supreme Court Tears Into Manipur Police Over Handling of Violence
The bench, crucially, asked if policemen had been interrogated after women said that cops had handed them over to the mob. 'What is the DGP doing?' is asked. New Delhi: The Supreme Court has taken a dim view of law enforcement and the government’s handling of the ethnic violence in Manipur, calling police investigation “tardy” and asking Manipur’s Director General of Police to be present in court on August 4 to be able to answer judges. LiveLaw has reported that the bench of Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, who are hearing a bunch of petitions on the Manipur violence, including those by victims of sexual violence, was “aghast” to learn that FIRs have not been registered for nearly three months after some occurrences. The court also learned that only a few arrests had been made in the 6,000 FIRs that have been registered. “Based on the preliminary data, it does prima facie appear that the investigation has been tardy. There has been a considerable lapse between the occurrence and the registration of FIRs, recording of witness statements and even the arrests are few and far between. In order to enable the court to appreciate the entire
Indian Catholic girls ‘traumatized’ by forced detention
Say they were treated like ‘criminals’ and kept as ‘prisoners’ in a Madhya Pradesh government-run home Three tribal Catholic girls, who were released from custody by child rights authorities in a central Indian state after being forcibly taken away on suspicion of conversion, say they are “traumatized and terrified.” Two of the teenage girls were released on July 31 while one was released earlier on July 28. The three were kept in detention for around 10 days in Madhya Pradesh by a team of the state's Commission for Protection of Child Rights. “It was a terrifying experience for me,” said a shaken Raksha Baria after she returned to her home in neighboring Rajasthan state in northwest India. Baria, a resident of Jamburi village in Rajasthan’s Banswara district, along with the other tribal Catholic girls from the same village, was studying in a Catholic Mission School in Madhya Pradesh’s Jhabua district. They were detained during an inspection of the school hostel on July 21 by a team from the child rights panel. The girls were forcibly taken away on suspicion of conversion to Christianity and were kept in the custody of Jhabua district’s Child Welfare Committee (CWC). “The inspection team treated us like criminals and did not
Extremists Are Destroying Indian Christians’ Homes and Shattering Their Lives
For nearly two decades, mob violence has driven believers from their communities and upended their sense of security. Since the beginning of May, ethnic and religious violence in Manipur, a state in northeast India, has resulted in the deaths of at least 142 people, the destruction of over 300 churches and hundreds of villages, and one of the largest violence-driven internal displacements in recent Indian history. A fact-finding team that visited earlier this month reported that the clashes were “state-sponsored,” and the violence has uprooted more than 65,000 people from their homes and forced them to seek shelter elsewhere. India records the highest numbers of internal displacements annually, primarily due to natural disasters. But recent communal violence and persecution against religious minorities has wreaked havoc in numerous Indian states, including Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha. While the government has an official legal framework for helping communities displaced by natural disasters and development projects, it has none for those displaced by violence or manmade conflict. Instead, the level of response has varied widely depending on public sympathy for the victims, media attention, and protests by those affected. Rehabilitation, including the provision of permanent shelter, jobs, and education, remains a significant challenge for the government
Conditions in Relief Camps Pathetic, INDIA Delegation Tells Manipur Governor
“You are requested to apprise the union government of the complete breakdown of law and order in Manipur for the last 89 days so as to enable them to intervene in the precarious situation in Manipur to restore peace and normalcy,” the opposition alliance's letter to the Manipur governor said. New Delhi: On the second day of their Manipur visit, opposition leaders wrote a letter to the state’s governor, Anusuiya Uikey, requesting her to take effective measures to restore peace and harmony in the state. The delegation comprising 21 parties from the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) are on a two-day visit to assess the ground situation in violence-hit Manipur. They told the governor that the delegation visited relief camps in Churachandpur, Moirang and Imphal, and “were very shocked and sad to hear the stories of anxieties, uncertainties, and pains and sorrows of individuals affected by the unprecedented violence unleashed by both sides (Meitis and Kuki-Zomi communities) since the beginning of the clashes”. The delegation accused the BJP-led Union and state governments of failing to protect the lives of people and properties in Manipur, and claimed that over the last three months, more than 140 people were killed and 500 were injured,
From Manipur, A Peace Activist’s Account Of State Criminality & Culpability a
In this blow-by-blow account, peace activist Harsh Mander describes his journey to Manipur, where he met Meitei and Kuki families broken by three months of ethnic violence, life inside the camps where hundreds live in despair, unsure if they will ever return to their scorched villages, and the “extreme culpability” of a seemingly partisan state that has done little to help the minority Christians who have been killed and uprooted in greater numbers. Delhi: In the four days that ten peace activists were in India’s northeastern state of Manipur, convulsed in ethnic and religious violence since May, nothing brought home the theatre of war like the gunfire and mortar explosions they passed while returning from the Kuki camps to the capital Imphal on 27 July. Two days later, Harsh Mander, who led the team from Karwan e Mohabbat, a campaign for peace and solidarity he started in 2017, told Article 14: “It was very scary.” “We could hear the sounds of gunshots close at hand and mortar bombs. It became really difficult to know what to do,” said Mander. “When we reached the border, the sound of firing was very close. It was within 100 metres.” In the state of 3.2 million people, Meiteis
Christian orphanage in India shut down alleging ‘conversion’
A Christian orphanage in a poll-bound central Indian state has been closed down, citing attempts to convert children to Christianity. The children housed in the orphanage were moved to government-run facilities on July 26 following a surprise raid on the orphanage by the child rights officials of Madhya Pradesh state. The orphanage housed 73 children, 38 boys and 35 girls. It was managed by a Christian tribal group called Adivasi Sahayada Samiti (council for helping tribal people) Jobat in Alirajpur district. The orphanage failed to comply with the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act as it “did not have a valid registration,” said Omkar Singh, who headed the inspection team. The inspection team also accused the orphanage managers of working for religious conversion after seizing copies of the Bible from some Christian children. Kalpana Daniel, president of the tribal council and a member of the Church of North India (CNI), said she sought time to register the orphanage and get licenses. But officials closed it down. Some 30 children, who are orphans, were moved to government facilities in the state. Children of single parents were sent back to their houses. The tribal council has been working for the poor for the past three decades. "It is duly
Ghaziabad News: Pastor Arrested under Unlawful Religious Conversion Act
Ghaziabad News: A man has been arrested by the Ghaziabad police from Modinagar on Wednesday 26 July in accusation of converting socially and economically backward classes into Christianity. The man held is identified as Mahindar Kumar, who is a pastor. Mahindar is originally from Peernagar Sudana village of Hapur District has been accused of converting people from backward classes into Christianity. Authorities took action into the complaint registering that some people are pursuing Modinagar locals to convert into Christianity by offering them jobs or money. FIR registered ACP Modinagar Gyan Prakash has told the press that the FIR was registered against Rohit and his mother Kusum after complaint filed by Ashish Kumar on Sunday, 23 July of illegal religious conversion. “Case has been registered under relevant sections of IPC and the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act 2021.” He further told the media. ACP Gyan Prakash told police “Investigation revealed that Rohit and Kusum were under the influence of Mahindar Kumar. Police are questioning Rohit and Kusum. During the investigation, Mahindar have been involved in conversion for last eight years and have converted around 15 people.” Foreign Connections Police officials have stated that Mahindar and his wife with few other accomplices run a charitable
Violence and State Inaction in Manipur Condemned Across the World
The ongoing ethnic/religious violence in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur and the lack of adequate response from the state have been condemned by people and organizations around the world. The violence erupted on May 3 after the Kuki-Zomi community protested against the Meitei demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. The majority Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 percent and reside mostly in the hill districts. Reports of tribal Kuki attacks on ethnic Meiteis circulated immediately after the protest, which in turn plunged the Imphal Valley which accommodates 90% of Manipur’s population into an outburst of violence against Kuki tribal Christians. At the same time, ethnic Meitei settlements in the Kuki-dominated hills surrounding the valley also were the targets of violence. While the official death count now totaling around 150, with the overwhelming majority of the victims being Kuki Christians, human rights observers estimate the figure to be underestimated. Nearly 60,000 people, most of them Kuki Christians, now have fled their homes to the Kuki-dominated hills and to other states to escape the arson attacks, and more than 300 churches have been burned and
357 Churches in India Set On Fire With the Support of the Authorities
(ZENIT News) The Thursday, 20th July the monsoon session of India’s parliament was disrupted by politicians demanding an emergency debate on a video footage of two women being led naked by a mob in Manipur – before they were gang raped, according to reports. The event occurred on 4th May, the day after the uprisings which spiraled into violence against the Christian-majority Kuki and Naga ethnic groups broke out, but the footage only surfaced on the web (Wednesday, 19th July). Although reports have not confirmed that the women were Christian, they belong to the Kuki ethnic group. Last week, senior BJP politician R Vanramchhuanga resigned over his party’s failure to condemn violence against Christians. In his resignation letter, dated 13th July, Vanramchhuanga wrote that even though 357 churches and other buildings belonging to Christian organizations had been destroyed by Meitei militants in Manipur that BJP leaders from local and national governments had not spoken out against the targeting of Christians. Christians belonging to the Meitei ethnic group were also targeted during the attacks. The vicious persecution in India’s Manipur state – where hundreds of churches have been destroyed – has entered a new stage as a video showing women being paraded naked went viral. Vanramchhuanga,
Extremists Are Destroying Indian Christians’ Homes and Shattering Their Lives
For nearly two decades, mob violence has driven believers from their communities and upended their sense of security. Since the beginning of May, ethnic and religious violence in Manipur, a state in northeast India, has resulted in the deaths of at least 142 people, the destruction of over 300 churches and hundreds of villages, and one of the largest violence-driven internal displacements in recent Indian history. A fact-finding team that visited earlier this month reported that the clashes were “state-sponsored,” and the violence has uprooted more than 65,000 people from their homes and forced them to seek shelter elsewhere. India records the highest numbers of internal displacements annually, primarily due to natural disasters. But recent communal violence and persecution against religious minorities has wreaked havoc in numerous Indian states, including Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha. While the government has an official legal framework for helping communities displaced by natural disasters and development projects, it has none for those displaced by violence or manmade conflict. Instead, the level of response has varied widely depending on public sympathy for the victims, media attention, and protests by those affected. Rehabilitation, including the provision of permanent shelter, jobs, and education, remains a significant challenge for the government
