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 597 incidents of attack against Christians in 2022.

The federal government, however, denies that the community was under attack saying a majority of the incidents described as evidence of Christian persecution were “either false or wrongfully projected” and urged the court to dismiss the petition.

The top court on Sept. 1, 2022, directed eight Indian states where more than 20 incidents of attacks against Christians were reported to provide details of police reports, the status of the investigations, arrests made, and charges filed in court for prosecuting the culprits.

The federal government was directed to collate the reports and present them before the top court, but instead blamed the petitioners for damaging India’s image abroad.

“This is how it is being displayed outside the country. This is the message that goes out to the public that Christians are in danger. This is wrong,” Mehta told the top court.

A majority of the incidents alleged in the petition were not even reported to the state authorities and among those reported, a large number of cases were settled amicably with mutual agreement between both parties, he claimed.

The federal government though admitted that complaints were registered with police in 155 incidents.

The counsel for the petitioners sought more time to study the government’s report and file a reply. The court has granted them three weeks’ time.

Church leaders who do not want to be named told UCA News that “in most of the cases of attack against Christians police either refused to register our complaints or registered cases against us.”

The petitioners approached the top court “precisely because the law enforcing agencies were not doing their work and Christians faced discrimination,” they added.

Christians make up 2.3 percent of India’s 1.4 billion population and face persecution mainly from Hindu nationalist groups associated with the ruling pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party in the country.

This article was first published on https://www.ucanews.com/