Justice Govind Mathur: The principles of democracy can’t be scarified at altar of majoritarianism
A protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act, in December 2019. | Reuters Just yesterday, my daughter asked me if “democracy” alone might not have sufficed in the topic of today’s speech. Was it necessary to include “constitutional”? I thought that was a significant question. We need to understand why we must stress on the Constitution, and why our democracy rests on the Constitution. Some days ago, in January this year, the Vice President of India [Jagdeep Dhankar] stated during a meeting attended by presiding officers of state legislatures that the judiciary was intruding into the territory of the legislature. He commented on the verdict of a case that was adjudicated by the Supreme Court 48 years ago, that settled in law that the basic structure of the Constitution could not be changed. He mentioned that if the elected representatives of the people of India in Parliament wished to change the Constitution, then that ruling of 1973, the Kesavananda Bharati case could not be cited to deny them that right. He contended that such opposition to changing the Constitution was against the principle of democracy. The judiciary, in the opinion of the Vice President, was extending its reach by ruling thus. According to the
Rubber sap may fail to bond PM Modi with Indian Christians
Narendra Modi’s visit to the southern state of Kerala may let in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh fox in the church chicken coop Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi possibly saved a few thousand rupees in aviation fuel for his high-security airplane, mixing his election campaign trip to Kerala with an official visit to launch a ferry and a metro train. But his meeting in his hotel with a bunch of heads of the different Christian denominations in the southern state may not bring him the political dividend his Malayalam-speaking assistants have promised him. Mercifully for the church delegation, the Latin Catholic Archbishop Joseph Kalathiparambil carried with him a written memorandum listing, among other issues, the concerns of the larger Indian Church outside the tiny but populous state of Kerala. Before the meeting, the media had widely reported that the bishops, largely representing the central Kerala faithful, were especially going to voice the concerns of the economically elite plantation owners and big traders. These include the demand for the federal government’s base support prices for natural rubber, which often faces international market fluctuations resulting in big losses to plantations and rubber traders in Kerala and Chennai. The other demand which has hit the headlines is for
Indian court remands 5 Christians on conversion charges
Critics say police acted on Hindu activist complaints although law says such complaints should only come from relatives A court in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state has remanded five Protestant Christians in custody, a day after police arrested 10 of them, including an 18-month-old baby, for allegedly violating a state law that criminalizes religious conversions. State police on April 23 detained several Christians attending Sunday services at two different churches in Kasimabad town in Ghazipur district following complaints from right-wing Hindu activists, who said the gatherings were attempting mass religious conversions. “The detained Christians were interrogated inside the churches. The Christians denied the accusation and asserted that the gatherings were part of routine Sunday services,” Pastor Dinanath Jaiswal, a local cleric and social worker, told UCA News on April 24. The police later took them to the police station and continued the interrogations. However, the women and children among them were released but 10 people were charged with violating the provisions of the state’s anti-conversion law. The detained — including a pastor who only goes by the name Kirubendra, his wife and their one-and-half-year-old daughter — were locked up in the police station for more than 24 hours, Jaiswal said. Later on April 24, the police
Indian Christians’ persecution claims false, govt says
Federal government tells Supreme Court that figures of attacks against Christians in their petition are incorrect Indian Christians paint a wrong image of the country by leveling false allegations of attacks against them, the federal government has claimed in the Supreme Court during the hearing of a petition seeking an end to the persecution of Christians. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the government, told a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud on April 13 that the data cited by the petitioners to prove their case is incorrect. “Petitioners claim there were some 500 incidents of attacks on Christians. We sent everything to the states… The attacks the petitioners speak of are internal fights between neighbors of which one of them would be a Christian. They have later resolved. The figures given are incorrect,” Mehta said in an affidavit submitted to the court. The petition was filed in 2021 by Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore along with the National Solidarity Forum and the Evangelical Fellowship of India seeking directions from the top court to end the attacks on the community, their worship places, and other institutions. The petitioners have cited a report by the United Christian Forum, saying the country witnessed
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 pastor, wife freed after 30 days behind bars
Court says police cannot prove the couple were converting people to Christianity A Protestant couple accused of religious conversion in a northern Indian state has been released from jail after spending 30 days behind bars. “Pastor John and his wife were granted bail and were released on March 27 after a district court observed that allegations of religious conversion against them could not be proved,” their lawyer, who did not want to be named, told UCA News on March 29. Pastor Santosh John and his wife, Jiji John, were arrested on Feb. 26 following complaints of religious conversion by Bajrang Dal, a group of Hindu hardliners, in Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state which is ruled by the pro-Hindu party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The lawyer said that “the hardline Hindu group could not give any solid evidence” against the couple who were picked up while conducting Sunday prayers in the state's Ghaziabad district. “The allegation that the pastor and his wife distributed some T-shirts, pamphlets and conducted prayer services at their rented house does not prove that they have been forcing people to change religion,” the court observed while releasing the couple. Minakshi Singh, a Christian activist who helped the couple secure bail, said it
Demand to scrap welfare benefits for India’s tribal Christians
Hindu nationalist group in northeast Assam state calls conversion to foreign religion threat to indigenous faith, culture A Hindu nationalist organization has asked the Indian government to end welfare benefits to indigenous people who have embraced Christianity and Islam, which they say are foreign-origin religions. Binud Kumbang, working president of the Janajati Dharma Sanskriti Suraksha Mancha, an affiliate of the pro-Hindu Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh working among indigenous communities, told a gathering in northeastern Assam state, that “conversion of indigenous people to foreign religions has been a threat” to the faith and culture of indigenous people, who constitute 8.6 percent of India’s 1.3 billion population. “The converted people completely give up their original tribal culture, customs, rituals, and traditions,” he told the gathering in Guwahati city of Assam on March 26. Kumbang and his organization claim to be working to liberate indigenous communities "from the clutches of foreign religions." In India, Christianity and Islam are considered foreign-origin religions, while Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism are said to be of indigenous origin. Indigenous people are classed as scheduled tribes while Dalits, former untouchables, are called scheduled caste. As part of the affirmative action plan devised in 1948, the federal and provincial governments provide social benefits like reservations in legislative
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
Modi ‘scolding’ Albanese on temple vandalism smacks of double standards
An Australian newspaper unambiguously stated that their Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, “received a public scolding from another world leader while conducting business overseas” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to publicly raise the issue of some incidents in recent weeks, such as acts of vandalism on Hindu temples in Australia by alleged pro-Khalistan groups, is, first and foremost, an instance of boorish diplomacy. Barely a day after exhibiting the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the cricket stadium named after him in Ahmedabad to bolster his popularity, Modi’s decision to rake up the issue at a joint press conference in New Delhi smacks of double standards. It is simultaneously a conspicuous violation of the much-repeated saying, Atithi Devo Bhava (Guest is akin to God). This was the second time that Modi staged a grandiose event with an international leader at the erstwhile Motera Stadium. He mounted such a theatrical extravaganza for the first time in February 2020 when then-American President Donald Trump visited India and joined a rally that pledged support to Modi who was weathering the political storm created by the anti-CAA agitation. Unhappy with Modi’s treatment of their prime minister, at least one Australian newspaper and leading website, The Australian, in a news
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
