The attraction of Jesus Christ continues to draw people who witness to the gospel of reconciliation even in the face of hostility. The followers of Jesus Christ work for justice in the midst of injustice, for truthfulness in middle of deception and for peace in the centre of violent society. 

- Rev. Dr. Richard Howell, General Secretary, EFI 

The Evangelical Fellowship of India is deeply concerned at the uninterrupted and increasing hostility against the Christian minority community in the country. EFI recorded 131 instances of violence against the Christians in 2012 which were marked by intimidation, harassment, false accusation, arrests and jailed, church being locked up and physical attacks. For full report see the attachment EFI Yearly Persecution Report, 2012.  

The southern state of Karnataka once again recorded the most number of attacks against the community with 37 instances of violence and hostility. The central Indian state of Chhattisgarh saw an increase number of 21 instances of violence and with 18 incidents the state of Madhya Pradesh has the third highest rates of attacks. 

Though there has been a marginal decrease in the number of incidents, down from 140 in the year 2011, the trends in the violence look similar to last year. The state of Karnataka also saw a slight decrease in the number of incidents going down from 49 to 37. However, as many incidents go unreported and therefore undocumented, this dip may not necessarily mean that the number of incidents has reduced. 

The incidents like previous years ranged from accusations of "forcible conversion" to desecration of churches to violent attacks against individual Christians. In most of the instances, Hindutva activists led mobs to disrupt Christian worship services and manhandled, physically and verbally abused the congregation, including women and children. Yet, in spite of leading the attacks, mostly complaints were registered by the mobs against the Christians for engaging in "forcible conversion." The police often detained the Christians at the behest of the mobs. 

Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act

In a significant move towards religious freedom, the Himachal Pradesh High Court held that section 4 of the Freedom of Religion Act, 2006 and Rules 3 and 5 of the corresponding Rules as unconstitutional in a petition filed by the Evangelical Fellowship of India and ANHAD. 

The concerned section and rules pertained to a convertee being obligated under the Act to give prior notice of a religious conversion and being subjected to a mandatory state inquiry. 

Though the court however, upheld all other provisions of the Act and Rules as legal and valid, relying on an earlier judgement of the Supreme Court, the court recognised that those who would like to voluntarily convert their religious belief, should be able to do so without any state or government interference. 

Recognising that such state intrusion is violative of the fundamental right of privacy safeguarded under the right to life in the constitution, the court held that "A person's belief or religion is something very personal to him. The State has no right to ask a person to disclose what is his personal belief. The only justification given is that public order requires that notice be given. We are of the considered view that in case of a person changing his religion and notice being issued to the so called prejudicially affected parties, chances of the convertee being subjected to physical and psychological torture cannot be ruled out. The remedy proposed by the State may prove to be more harmful than the problem." 

The full judgement is available at http://hphighcourt.nic.in/inetjudord/judgements/CWP4382011.pdf 

Constitutional challenge to 1950 Presidential Order

Other issues of concern remained that despite a petition filed in 2004 before the Supreme Court of India seeking the inclusion of Muslim and Christian Dalits in the SC / ST reservation list, the central government is yet to file its reply to the Supreme Court. The petition challenged the constitutionality of The Presidential Order of 1950, "Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950" whereby only certain castes belonging to the Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh communities are recognized as the Scheduled Castes, there were no hearings in the matter. (The third paragraph of the order however qualifies that "notwithstanding anything contained in para 2, no person who professes a religion different from Hinduism shall be deemed to be a member of the Scheduled Castes." Subsequent amendments to the 1950 Presidential Order in 1956 and 1990 provided for the inclusion of Sikhs and Buddhists respectively within the Scheduled Caste category to avail the benefits of reservation. Though this order was amended in later years to include the Dalits of Sikh and Neo-Buddhist religions, the Christian and Muslim Dalits are not included as Scheduled Castes).

Universal Period Review of India

 India was reviewed for the second time by the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism of the Human Rights Council on 24 May 2012. Commenting on the situation of religious minorities in India, seven countries (USA, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Iran and the Holy See) recommended that India take appropriate action to ensure the protection of religious minorities in the country including the specific recommendations for the repeal of the anti conversion laws. (Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Austria and the Holy See) and the enactment of a law to prevent communal violence. (Germany)

However, India’s response to the recommendations was far from adequate with the delegation making merely cursory remarks on the violence against religious minorities. The full report of the UPR is available at http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session21/A-HRC-21-10_en.pdf

It is also a blot on the country’s secular credentials that the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom 2012 Annual Report again places India on its Watch List.

Recommendations:

1. EFI calls upon the Government of India 

a. To honour Justice Rangnath Misra Commission Report and implement the recommendation to grant constitutional benefits to Dalit Christians and Muslims. 

b. Enact the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2011, after due consideration to the concerns raised by civil society. 

2. EFI calls upon the state governments 

a. To repeal the Freedom of Religion Act enacted in the states of Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Orissa and Arunachal Pradesh and to ensure the protection of religious minority communities in the respective states. 

b. Withdraw false and malicious cases registered against Christians in the state and direct the police to investigate the motive and locus of the complainant before registering any complaint against Sections 153, 295 and 295A of the Indian Penal Code.

(For full report see the Attachment EFI Persecution Watch Yearly Report, 2012)

Report prepared by -

The Evangelical Fellowship of India 
(January 23, 2013) 

 

The Evangelical Fellowship of India is a national alliance of churches and Christian non-profit organisations. It represents the interests of over 35,000 churches across India and is a voice to the governments and media. Established in 1951, EFI is a charter member of the World Evangelical Alliance, a non-profit organisation with special consultative status with the United Nation. 

For more details: 

Evangelical Fellowship of India 
805/92, Deepali Building, Nehru Place 
New Delhi - 110019, India 
Tel: +91.11.26431133 
Fax: +91.11.26285350