Cases against Christians still to be withdrawn, NHRC told

Babu Thomas

Dozens of cases involving about 150 persons, mostly young men and women falsely implicated in the September 2008 church attacks in Karnataka, is still to be withdrawn, the National Human Rights Commission of India was told.

However, cases against culprits belonging to the Hindu community have been withdrawn without assigning any reasons, and many never got booked although they were roaming about the streets in broad daylight.

The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), in a letter to the NHRC, further told that attacks on places of Christian worship still continued, though in a scattered manner and with little less ferocity. The Council recorded about 133 incidents of attacks last two years after the September incident.

GCIC said the police who had exceeded their lawful mandate and were identified and specifically named in the Mangalore attacks were simply let free without any disciplinary action against them.

“On the other hand it looks as if they have been even complimented and rewarded by the Government for their “services rendered” though named by various human rights organizations and even by Justice B.K. Somashekar, the judge heading the Commission appointed for the very purpose of inquiring into the atrocities in Mangalore in 2008.”

The letter was in response to the report submitted by the Karnataka Govt. on implementing the NHRC recommendations with regard to the September attacks.

Over 20 churches and several prayer halls in Mangalore, Udupi, Chikkamagaluru, Kolar and other small districts in Karnataka were attacked in the 2008 violence.

The Karnataka Human Rights Commission recently corroborated that “attacks have been taking place consistently and repeatedly despite the claim put forth by the state authorities that they have taken all possible steps and measures to contain such incidents and to prevent recurrence of such incidents.”

“One thing is certain and the Commission can take judicial notice of the same that this phenomenon of attacking places of worship particularly on churches and mosques by fundamentalist groups is of recent origin. The situation that we notice in the immediate past was not at all a situation that existed before 2006 or 2007.

“In that view of the matter, it is absolutely necessary for the State Government and all law-enforcing agencies quite honestly and seriously to search for the causes and factors for the emergence of this phenomenon and take all possible effective measures and steps to nip this menace in the bud,” the Commission noted.

Furthermore, the Commission said it was not satisfied with the government’s action in registering the crimes and making a few arrests here and there. “What is important is that such incidents do not take place in the State. Otherwise, well designed and well thought secular fabric of the polity of the nation would be torn to pieces and disharmony, distress and hatred would be the order of the day, resulting in chaos and disharmony in the society,” it opined.

Christian Today India
November 8, 2010