The Supreme Court has asked the Union home ministry to get verification reports from 8 states on the alleged attacks on Christians.
According to a report by Live Law, the Supreme Court gave SC gave the Ministry of Home Affairs two months to submit the report on the attack from these eight states, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Karnataka and Jharkhand on steps taken on alleged attacks on Christians.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli asked MHA to have state chief secretaries provide information on the registration of FIRs, the status of the investigation, arrests made and charge sheets filed.
The bench said the Centre’s assistance was needed to find the truth on claims made in pleas filed by Bangalore Archbishop Peter Machado and the National Solidarity Forum. The pleas alleged that there was ‘targeted violence against Christians by right-wing organisations.’
The petitioners sought an investigation by special investigation teams and the registration of cases against the accused. The bench said it was not assuming the allegations were true and would wait for the verification reports.
A crime against a community member need not necessarily be an attack on the community, but the claims need to be verified in the public interest, it said.
Appearing for the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta alleged that the data furnished by the petitioners were ‘self-serving’ and according to the petitioner the ‘most peaceful state was West Bengal’. Mehta said that the affidavit filed last month was prepared after contacting chief secretaries of respective states.
Petitioners and the Nature of the Crime
Archbishop Of Bangalore Diocese Dr Peter Machado along with the National Solidarity Forum, and the Evangelical Fellowship of India are the petitioners in this case. According to the petition, the present PIL has been filed against the “sinister phenomena of violence” and “targeted hate speech” against the Christian community of the country by vigilante groups and members of Hindutva right-wing organisations. It submits that such violence has been rising owing to the failure of the State machinery to protect its own citizens.
The petition argues that there is a failure by the Central and State Governments and other State machineries in taking immediate and necessary actions against groups that have caused widespread violence and hate speech against the Christian community including attacks at their places of worship and other institutions run by them.
On a previous occasion, the Apex Court had explained that it will not get into the enquiry of individual cases. It noted that the judgment in Tehseen Poonawalla v. Union of India, wherein the Apex Court had issued a slew of directions regarding mob violence and lynching, already being in place, in the present proceedings the Court merely has to see if the framework is being followed by the State Government. As the Bench was inclined to issue notice, Solicitor General, Mr Tushar Mehta sought permission to file a reply. He beseeched the Bench to consider his response before issuing notice in the matter.
What Happened in Court – 700 instances of violence between 2021-2022
Senior Advocate, Mr Colin Gonsalves appearing on behalf of the petitioner submitted that though a clean chit has been given by the Centre to the police officials in their affidavit, it is in stark contrast to the data provided in the plea and response filed by the petitioner. Relying on the same, he argued that police have acted in connivance with the perpetrators in almost all instances of violence put forth by the petitioner. Regarding the authenticity of the data, he emphasised that the same has been compiled by interviewing the family members of the victim.
Mr Gonsalves pointed out that the data discloses about 505 instances of violence in 2021 and the total number of incidents over a span of two years (2021-22) would be around 700. He further submitted that the victims of the attacks are mostly pastors. It was alleged that after the attack on Christian priests the police, instead of helping them out, would stop the prayer meetings where the attacks were carried out.
Renouncing the allegation of false accusation, raised by the Centre, Mr Gonsalves averred that the data provided in the plea is not collated by Christian institutions, but by independent human rights organisations.
Justice Chandrachud asked him, “Have FIRs been filed in all these cases?” Mr. Gonsalves responded, “Non-cognizable FIR is filed in these cases and in a couple of hours they(perpetrators) are released.” He added that while the law enforcement agencies could manage to arrest only 23 perpetrators, they had arrested 510 pastors. “505 instances in 2021, about 200 odd this year. So 700 cases. This year has been as active as last year. 510 pastors were arrested and perpetrators 23.”
Justice Chandrachud suggested that the MHA can be asked to have a nodal officer who can collect data from the State Government regarding the measures taken by them to deal with such cases of violence in line with the judgments in Kodungallur FilmSociety v. UoI, Tehseen Poonawalla v. UoI and Shakti Vahini v. UoI. Solicitor General, vehemently opposing the allegations raised in the plea, appraised the Bench that the Union Government had already undertaken the task of conducting ‘A fact check and inquiry”. He pointed out that the preliminary factual check reveals that the police had taken prompt action.
It is highlighted that the ones affected have not sought remedy in law, but the petitioners, allegedly with ulterior motives have approached the Court. The Bench assured him that it is not making any presumptions regarding the veracity of the allegations raised in the petition, but only directing the State Government to carry out a verification exercise. Considering that it might not be feasible to verify all incidents, it noted, that some sample States, preferably the ones with more incidents of attacks can be chosen for the purpose of conducting an inquiry.
“We are not starting with the presumption that what they are saying is true, but we can carry out a verification exercise. We can take out some sample cases. We can pick 3 or 5 states. We can ask your ministry to get information from these States” Mr Mehta declared, “That is the exercise we have done…This is not the first time I am witnessing this kind of plea. It is a pattern.”
Justice Chandrachud said, “When they point out facts that warrant our further scrutiny then we have to conduct an exercise to verify…Let there be an overall verification in some selected states and give us the report. Then we can separate the grain from the chaff and see which cases require our interference.
Mr. Mehta proffered, “I have said in my affidavit that most of the cases (of violence) are false.” Justice Chandrachud pointed out the difficulty in accepting the preliminary fact check and inquiry carried out by the Centre as it does not disclose details pertaining to the process of verification. “But the problem is, you have not told us how you verified it.”
Mr. Mehta responded that information was collected from the concerned authorities – “We cannot make such affidavits sitting in our office. It is from information by concerned authorities.”
The petition has sought the setting up of Special Investigation Teams with officers from outside the States where the incidents set out to register FIRs, conduct criminal investigations and prosecute the criminal offenders in accordance with the law.
Further mandates have been sought to the SITs to file closure reports in accordance with the law, where false counter FIRs have been filed by the assailants against the victims. The petitioners have sought directions for an order directing each state to provide police protection for prayer meetings, and directing the SITs to identify and prosecute such members of the political/social organisations who conspired and instigated the assaults as described in this petition.
The petition has pursued further orders directing the State Governments to properly assess the damage caused to property and pay compensation accordingly, and set up a website and make information available on all these trials-state-wise relating to instances of communal violence against the Christian community.
Further directions have been sought to the State Governments to pay compensation to all members of the victim community who were illegally arrested, and to prosecute police officials who fail in their constitutionally mandated duty to enforce the law of the land, by being complicit in attacks against religious minorities, and by shielding the attackers or otherwise scuttling due process of law. The petitioners depend upon the directions issued by the Supreme Court in 2018 to control mob lynching in the Tehseen Poonawalla case.
While the MHA denied allegations of a ‘rise in violence and attack’ against Christians saying “The majority of incidents alleged as Christian persecution in reports were either false or wrongfully projected,” the affidavit contended, the ground reality reported by Christians is different and just in two years, 700 targeted attacks with video evidence and witnesses will stand no gain to Christians to make up stories about it.
Not sparing Christmas in 2021 and 2022, the attacks were rising. Gathering for services in certain states became a nightmare. There is enough documented evidence of the violence and action needs to be taken against the perpetrators.
Christians Unite For Candlelight Prayers for Peace
On the call given by the Masihi Maha Sabha (MMS), Christians from various denominations, including the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of North India (CNI), the Salvation Army, and the Methodist Church, united under the banner of the MMS, holding a candlelight prayer service at their respective churches to pray for peace and harmony following the attack on a church here on Saturday.
The Christian community has been involved in peace-building efforts. Till recently, we enjoyed the patronage of people of all faiths. However, it is painful for us to find ourselves being targeted for persecution on the completely baseless charge of conversion of people by force and allurements — Dr PK Samantaroy, President of MMS
With inputs from Live Law and The Tribune