Appeal for peace after three Indian churches razed
Two Protestant and a Catholic churches were brought to the ground as they were built on unauthorized plots Christian leaders in India's northeastern Manipur state have appealed for peace after government agencies demolished three churches, saying they were built on unauthorized land. The state government, run by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, initiated the demolition of churches claiming that they were built on government land in a tribal colony in the capital Imphal. Government agencies demolished the churches on April 11 early morning, probably to avoid people's resistance and violence, said Father Francis Vialo, financial administrator of Imphal Archdiocese. The demolished churches belong to Catholic, Baptist and Lutheran Churches, Vialo told UCA News on April 12. The catholic priest said his diocese bought the land of the demolished Holy Spirit Church some 20 years ago from a person. The case has been going on for more than four years now. In 2020, “when we challenged the government order in court, our case could not stand" because the seller had fraudulently created documents to sell the land to us, the priest said. However, the court stayed the government order and allowed the status quo till March 2023. The Manipur High Court vacated its 2020 order
Indian state backs welfare benefits for Dalit Christians
Dalits who converted to Christianity or Islam are currently excluded from India’s affirmative action program A provincial government in southern India has urged the Indian federal government to award scheduled caste status to Christians who were former untouchables to enable them to claim welfare benefits. The Andhra Pradesh government on March 24 passed a resolution in its legislative assembly to support Christians from the Dalit community becoming a Scheduled Caste (SC) which, if approved by the central government could one day allow them social benefits they are currently excluded from. These benefits include reservations in legislative bodies, educational institutions, and job quotas in state-run institutions. “Somewhere or somebody has to start it for this noble cause, hence we appreciate and thank the Andhra Pradesh government for taking such a step as it is in the right direction and at the right time,” Father Vijay Kumar Nayak, secretary of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) Office for Scheduled Castes and Backward Castes, told UCA News on March 27. “The Andhra Pradesh government’s support will have an immense impact" “It’s the need of the hour,” he added. Father Nayak said other states like Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal already support the claim by Dalit Christians to
US report censures Indian states’ anti-conversion laws
USCIRF has called for repealing the laws to comply with the global human rights regime of which India is a signatory The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has called for the repeal of anti-conversion laws in India that have been enacted by state governments and often misused to prosecute Christians in the country. The commission, a US federal government entity, on March 14 said in its latest report, compiled after an extensive study, that the sweeping anti-conversion laws in India are inconsistent with the international human rights regime. More Indian states are considering introducing such laws, it added. The commission has recommended that the US State Department designate India as a country of “particular concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act. According to the report, anti-conversion laws are in force in 12 of India’s 28 states. “The anti-conversion laws also worsen religious freedom conditions in India, which are already poor,” the report said. “Such laws enable and embolden existing government harassment, vigilante violence, and discrimination against religious minorities, as well as crackdowns on civil society organizations,” it noted. It has also stressed the need for repealing these laws to comply with international human rights treaties to which India is a signatory. The report comes at
Constitution And Conversion: Does Right To Propagate Religion Mean Right To Proselytise, What’s Scope Of Article 25?
Article 25 of the Constitution of India provides the freedom to practise, profess, and propagate religion, but does it also cover the right to proselytise and convert others? The Supreme Court addressed the question of whether right to propagate also means right to proselytize in Stainislaus (1977) verdict Archana Hande’s installation ‘My Kottige’ is her innovative take on urbanisation and changing times. In her artwork, she has arranged discarded things as a witness of their time and spac “One of the most sacred principles of law is, that a written instrument must be construed upon the face of it, and that no parol evidence can be used for the purpose of inserting any words not therein contained.” — Sir R. Malins, High Court of England and Wales (1868) The founders of modern India chose a very clear path for the new country — a republic with no state religion where everyone would be free to practise any faith. This is enshrined in Article 25 of the Constitution of India as the Right to Freedom of Religion. “Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess,
114-year-old Christian hospital in Uttar Pradesh faces harassment
Fatehpur, March 10, 2023: A Christian hospital that has served a northern Indian city for more than a century faces closure after it became a victim of religious bigotry since one year. The Broadwell Christian Hospital in Fatehpur has faced “physical, mental, and emotional abuse due to the false allegations of forceful religious conversions,” bemoans Sujith Varghese Thomas, the institutions senior administrative officer. Fatehpur, a city situated between the Ganga and Yamuna rivers in Uttar Pradesh state, is some 550 km southeast of New Delhi. Some Hindu nationalist groups have accused the hospital of indulging in forcible religious conversions, which the hospital authorities say are false allegations. In “an open letter” to the media, Thomas claims the hospital that provides dedicated service in social development and healthcare has remained a “vital resource” for the local community for the past 114 years. “For over a century, the hospital, its staff and its management have shared a fraternal bond with the community – something that goes beyond mere doctor and patient association. This bond is a deep two-way relationship of care, of trust, of service and of dignity – the metaphorical blood flow that has kept us connected, healthy, motivated and in service through the years,” adds
Christian persecution and human rights
Christians have traditionally adopted a posture of social leadership to the wider community in multiple ways. Education, medical care, social services, rural development, services to the hungry and poor, vocational training, community development, and a host of other development models were introduced by the church and its lay affiliates through Indian history. The post-independence model of community development adopted by the Government in 1952 when Five Year Plans were inaugurated by the Government had its origins in YMCA philosophy and ideology. One could reel off unending and vibrant specifics about Christian contribution to Indian society; the facts are astounding. Christians have imbibed the notion of ‘Antodya’ – welfare of the people in the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid. It is, therefore, a shocker that the persecution of Christians today is currently on overdrive countrywide despite its historical and continuing accomplishments in favour of the least and last of society. In 2014 the Ministry of Home Affairs reported a “steep 30 per cent rise in the number of communal violence incidents in 2013 as compared to 2012. Reported incidents of abuse carried out against Christians in India went up to 177 in 2015, and have, since, steadily escalated. Those figures have sharply
UP: Bajrang Dal Activists Allege ‘Forced Conversions’; Vandalise Church, Assault Worshippers
New Delhi: A group of Bajrang Dal activists on February 19 allegedly vandalised a church, and assaulted and threatened the worshippers, in Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharthnagar district, claiming the church was carrying out “forced religious conversions”. The incident took place at the Himalayan Evangelical Mission. “A group of 50-60 men, armed with rods and sticks, came and disrupted our prayer on February 19. They hit me and my son with rods, accusing us of converting Hindus into Christians in the church,” pastor Satyen Bishwakarma told The Wire. The pastor added that he and his family have been living in constant fear as the Siddharthnagar police have refused to register a first information report against the Bajrang Dal. However, as on March 5, an FIR has still not been lodged by the police. A woman, who belongs to the Dalit community and requested anonymity as she was allegedly threatened by the Bajrang Dal, told The Wire that she was beaten up by the group. She added that they even warned her not to come back to the church. “Why haven’t the police registered an FIR against them? The police saw everything when they came [to the church] but did not intervene, they were seen supporting the group [Bajrang
Indian Christian educators denied bail in conversion case
The Lal brothers are accused of funding mass conversion activity in northern Uttar Pradesh A photograph of an event underway at the Evangelical Church of India Church in Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh's Harihar Ganj district A top court in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh has denied anticipatory bail to two top Christian educators accused of mass conversion. Rajendra Bihari Lal, the vice chancellor of Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, and his brother, Vinod Bihari Lal, who serves as the director at the university, had moved an application in the Allahabad High Court seeking anticipatory bail when police summoned them for interrogation earlier this month. Justice Manju Rani Chauhan of the Allahabad High Court on Feb. 28 noted that there was material evidence against the duo and hence their application “stands rejected.” Police have been investigating a complaint of mass conversion reported at Harihar Ganj in the state’s Fatehpur district on April 14, 2022, which happened to be the Maundy Thursday. The judge while elaborating on the grounds for rejecting their bail application said the intent behind the charitable works undertaken by the Lal brothers appears to be dubious, affecting the lives of marginal sections of society as reported in the alleged case
Indian protestant bishop arrested under conversion law
Auxiliary Bishop Paul Muniya of the Protestant Shalom Church has been falsely implicated by a local man, his son says Indian protestant bishop arrested under conversion law A Protestant bishop in the Central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has been remanded to judicial custody over allegations he violated the provisions of the state's stringent anti-conversion law. Auxiliary Bishop Paul Muniya of the Protestant Shalom Church in the Jhabua district, inhabited predominantly by tribal communities, surrendered to the local police on Feb. 23 to comply with an order issued by the Madhya Pradesh High Court. “The high court order said he would be granted bail once he surrendered to the police, but instead he was sent to jail,” the bishop’s son Kaleb Muniya told UCA News on Feb. 24. Police charged Bishop Muniya under the state’s anti-conversion law following a complaint by local resident Kailash Bhuria on Jan. 11. Bhuria alleged that he was being intimidated to attend prayer services by the bishop and Tita Bhuria, a church elder. The duo in September last year took him to a nearby church and sprinkled water on him, gave him a Bible and a cross, he said. The bishop accompanied by the church elder also visited his house in January
Indian archdiocese alleges minorities cut from voter list
Bangalore archdiocese says thousands of Christians, Muslims deleted from electoral roll ahead of Karnataka state polls Several thousand voters belonging to religious minorities such as Christians and Muslims have been allegedly removed from electoral rolls in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, say Catholic leaders. The state, where the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) runs the government, is headed for polls in May and Christian leaders suspect deleting minority voters could be a strategy to retain power. A delegation from Bangalore archdiocese on Feb. 15 submitted a memorandum to the state's chief electoral officer (CEO) saying a total of 9,195 voters' names were removed from electoral rolls of the Shivajinagar constituency in the state capital, Bengaluru. At least Some 8,000 names were of Christians and Muslims, the memorandum said. “We fear that [voters lists for] many constituencies across Bengaluru city could have tampered with impunity. If such mischief is allowed to carry on unchecked, the confidence of the people in the electoral process will be destroyed beyond measure,” J. A. Kanthraj, public relations officer of the Archdiocese of Bangalore, told UCA News. He said it appeared to be clear manipulation to prevent Christians and Muslims from casting their votes in the upcoming elections. Repeated attempts by UCA
