Plea alleging rise in attacks on Christians based on wrongful news reports, Centre tells SC

The Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that there was no merit in a plea alleging an increase in the attacks against Christians in India, Bar and Bench reported.

In an affidavit, the Ministry of Home Affairs submitted that the allegations were false and the majority of the incidents cited by the petitioner were wrongfully projected in news reports.

“The petitioners claimed to have based the petition on information gathered through sources like press reports [The Wire, Scroll.in, Hindustan Times, Dainik Bhaskar, etc.], ‘independent’ online databases and from findings of various non-profit organisations,” the Centre’s affidavit said. “It is submitted that enquiries reveal that majority of the incidents alleged as Christian persecution in these reports were either false or wrongfully projected.”

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, also submitted that some crimes committed out of personal enmity have been given a communal colour in the petition, Live Law reported.

Complaints filed against Christians have been cited by the petitioner as persecution of the community members, he added.

The Centre also submitted details of a case from November to substantiate its claims.

“…it was mentioned that one Varsha and her family [Christians] were heckled by some people at their home in Shahgarh [in Madhya Pradesh] for not celebrating Diwali [November 6, 2021],” the affidavit stated. “However, it appears that there was a private dispute between the two parties, which had nothing to do with religious background of the two parties. In the said case, both parties had filed cases and counter cases against each other with the local police.”

The Centre further stated that the petitioner relied on news reports that were “misleading and self-serving”.

“It is a recent trend that certain organisations start planting articles and preparing self-serving reports themselves or through their associates, which eventually become the basis of a writ petition,” the government said.

The allegations that the police have been biased and negligent in such cases is also baseless, the government added. It said that the police have taken cognisance of such cases and conducted necessary investigation as per law, Live Law reported.

Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioner sought time to file a rejoinder to the ples, Bar and Bench reported.

The matter has been listed for hearing on August 25.

Attack on Christians

Over the last one year, there have been several instances of Hindutva groups attacking churches and Christian prayer halls after accusing them of engaging in forced conversions.

In June, police officials in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district had raided a Christian prayer hall after a Hindutva group claimed that forced religious conversions were being carried out there.

On February 25, a Christian pastor alleged he was assaulted by a mob in Delhi that accused him of being on a conversion mission.

In a report released in December, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties listed 39 incidents of violence against Christians in Karnataka alone, between January 2021 and November 2021.

A fact-finding report released in December found 305 attacks had taken place on the members of the Christian community across India between January and September last year. The report was a joint initiative of non-governmental organisations Association for Protection of Civil Rights, the United Christian Forum and United Against Hate.

The plea in the Supreme Court has sought its earlier guidelines on curbing hate crimes in the country.

In a judgement in 2018, the Supreme Court had issued guidelines to the Centre and states on the matter such as special courts to conduct trials, a compensatory scheme with provision for interim relief for victims and their relatives and disciplinary action beyond what is recommended in service rules for officers who do not deal with lynching incidents properly.