Parallel States: BJP-ruled governments defy Centre and Constitution on religious freedom

The following article appears in the next issue [June-July 2006] of the prestigious
journal Communalism Combat, edited by Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand
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Parallel States: BJP-ruled governments defy Centre and Constitution on
religious freedom

By John Dayal (June 25, 2006)In an irony which will haunt and embarrass the government of India for
a long time to come, New Delhi's commitment to the International
Human Rights Council formed in Geneva this month, and also Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh's refining the 30 year old 15-Point Programme
for Minorities coincided with a major escalation in violence against
the minority Christian communities in the states of Orissa, Madhya
Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
The situation has come to such a pass that senior Christian leaders
have with all gravity asked the Union Government if its writ still runs
in States which are ruled by Bharatiya Janata Party or its Allies.
Church leaders have in fact cautioned the Union Government that unless
urgent steps are taken, and seen to be taken, the impression will go
that there are two sets of laws operating in the country-one criminal
justice system operating in areas ruled by the BJP and another
Constitutional law operative in the rest of India.
Needless to say this poses a serious threat not only to the secular
fabric of India, but indeed to the federal structure of its polity in
which while states have a wide range of freedom of action, they are
constitutionally bond to adhere to the basic tenets of our republican
democracy. These of course include such basic freedoms and human rights
as those of freedom to profess, practice and propagate one's faith or
religion.
Indicative of the BJP's defiance of both the Congress and the
Constitution is the recent three-pronged attack on the Christian
community. The first of this is repeated articulation by Chief
Ministers and regional BJP heads in the four or five central Indian
States that they would slam down with all severity on Christian
Missionary activity, calling it anti-national and disruptive of
national unity. The second is a heighten activity of conversion to
Hinduism, politically called Ghar Wapasi of the indigenous or Tribals
of Central India in which politicians such as the lumpen giant Judeo as
also the controversial Shankaracharya of Puri are involved. The final
blow is unabashed violence against poor and illiterate Tribals in
remote villages who profess the Christian faith or are even remotely
hospitable to a visiting pastor.
Violence is no longer confined to beating up the man or demolition the
family hut, but is now graduating to molesting of women, parading them
in the streets and finally subjecting them gang rape as a method of
teaching them a lesson. And illustrative case is of two Christian women
on 28th May 2006 in Nadia village of Bhagwanpura block of Khargone
district of South Western Madhya Pradesh of the night of 28th May. The
women and their families had earned the wrath of the BJP leadership in
the region for continuing to worship in a house church defying the
dictat of the local Sangh thugs.
On the 28th night a group of men lead by people now identified as
Lalla, Nandla, Kallu, Rewal Singh and Sakaram all from the same village
came and raided the house of the Christians beat up the men and then
gang raped the women. The women say they can identify the tormentors
(see box items for testimonies).
I fully realise that rape is endemic in many areas in India including
my home city of Delhi. We have police records which show the gravity of
the situation, where in India a women is raped every 30 minutes and
another is murdered every 75 minutes. National Police Crime Records
Bureau data says a third of these rapes take place in Delhi but a very
large number do take place in rural India, including the tribal parts
of Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
The Madhya Pradesh case is however different because of its religious
connotations and the fact that the victims were raped so they could be
"taught a lesson" for professing the Christian faith. This is
reminiscent of the gang rape of nuns in Jhabua not far away from
Khargone. Adding insult to the injury is the attitude of the district
authorities including the police. They have constantly refused to file
First Information Reports on behalf of the women or many eye witnesses.
Not only this, they went on to coerce the victims to remain quite. And
finally, as if to show their contempt to the rule of law, the police
filed a case against the families of the victims for encouraging
conversion to Christianity.
Under such a protective police umbrella, thugs of the Sangh Parivar
have created so much communal fear that even fact finding groups from
the State capital of Bhopal find it difficult to travel to the villages
of Khargone in the day time.
After persistence complaints to the Centre's National Minorities
Commission Chairperson Hamid Ansari sent two of his members to Madhya
Pradesh for an on the spot inquiry. Commission member Harcharan Singh
Josh later said that the situation in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
was not safe for Christians. He said that Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu
Parishad and a new organisation called the Dharam Dal were terrorizing
the Christians even as the police forces closed their eyes to this
violence.
There is a very little left now for Christian groups and activists
other then to move the High Court at Jabalpur to direct the state
government to take action against the culprits. Another recourse
perhaps lies by moving a similar writ in the Supreme Court.
But moving the judiciary can be affective if the Union Government shows
any sign of being politically alive to the communalism being fanned by
the BJP governments in Madhya Pradesh and adjoining states. So far the
Union Home Ministry -- in spite of my several letters to Home Minister
Shivraj Patil and Prime Minister Shri Manmohan Singh in my capacity as
a President of All India Catholic Union, the biggest Christian
organisation in the country claiming to represent 1.8 Crore Catholic
laity, and also as a member of the Central Government's own National
Integration Council -- seems not to have elicited any response from the
mandarins of North Block.
Little wonder than that the Shankaracharya has openly organised mass
conversion of Christians to Hinduism in Orissa while the district
collectors look on. And in Rajasthan the State Home Minister and the
Chief Minister pursue their one-point programme of implementing an anti
conversion law in the face of almost universal condemnation.

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THREE TESTIMONIES FROM NANDYA VILLAGE KHARGONE DISTRICT

Mrs Baysubai Ben narrates:

"On 28th May, the village Mukhya's men came and took my husband
Gokhrya. They were beating him all through the way. They also beat him
in the gram Panchayat. But he refused to reject Jesus. Some one said
that these Christians don't drink alcohol. So if we will make them to
drink liquor, he will become a non-Christian.' So they forced the
liquor into his mouth. Then asked him to leave Jesus or give up his
land. He said, 'I will leave any thing but not Jesus.'
The village Patel Pandya was there. He said, 'you people can do
anything you want to with their women. There will not be any police
case. If there is any case, I will handle it.'
So some came to our village. I saw from my house two men molesting my
sister in law (brother's wife, Rekha Bai.) I knew that they could do
something to me also as my husband was not at home. I ran and took
shelter in the neighbouring house. It was around 10 in the evening.
They came and found me. They dragged me out and dropped me in the
agricultural land. They undressed me by force and threw the clothes on
the ground. They both repeatedly raped me.
My husband and his friend were walking to our home from the friend's
village. They heard my cry and came to rescue me. But there were a few
others standing as guards. They caught hold of my husband and his
friend. They started to beat the friend more than my husband. My
husband took me home but they were beating his friend taking him to the
Mukhya. There they bound him to a tree - and reported to the Mukhya,
Ram Singh Patel.
The people who raped me told my husband and me that if we will tell
this to any one - they will kill us. As we were really shocked and
frightened we did not do any thing. Next day came and warned that we
should not leave the village and should not be fools to report - and
it will cost our lives.
But on the second night we escaped to a neighbouring village and found
shelter in a neighbour's house who is a Christian.
I am afraid and frightened when I see those who beat my husband or
raped me. I feel so ashamed.



The witness of Mrs. Rekha Bai.

On May 28th some men came to our home after a meeting with the Mukhya.
They caught hold of me and started to molest me. I escaped but as I am
seven months pregnant I could not run far. So I ran to my father
in-laws house, which is 200 meters away. My father in law tried to save
me. They started to beat my father in law with firewood and the poor
man ran for his life. Three men came to the in-laws house and found me
hiding. They dragged me out and threw me on the cot that was put
outside the house for my father in law. They undressed me and raped me.
(One cot was broken which the police have taken away for evidence.}
Three men raped me. When my mother-in-law started to curse and save me,
one man took big firewood and hit her at the back. Wriggling with pain
she sat there abusing the men.
As they were going they warned us, "You tell this to any one try to
make a complaint - we will get rid of you for ever."
My husband was in the next village. Next day when he came, the people
who raped me came and warned again - 'you dare to report this to
any one or try to go out of the village - we will not let you live."
This was on Sunday night. On Tuesday night we came out of the village
- as no one was seeing us. On Wednesday we went to the police
station. The Police inspector told me, "You are a prostitute and you
are trying to blame these innocent people. ' He was abusing us
continually.
The police sent us to the government hospital. The doctor gave Gudiya
an injection and some pills but did not do a check up on me. So one
police came with us to the Khargone district government hospital. The
doctor did a medical check up.


Gudiya, a villager, says:

My name is Gudiya. One day my friend Gokhariya from my nearby village
came to me. It was on 28th May and said that the people of the village
did beat him very badly for being a Christian. We discussed as what we
could do in the new wave of this persecution. We sat there till 9.45
pm. Then Gokhariya said that he is going home. I said that I will walk
with him. As we were walking by a hill, we heard the cry of a woman
from the filed. It was the wife of Gokhariya. We ran over there and
found two men raping her. But there were more men standing around. They
caught hold of us. They were angry as I came to help my friend. They
started to beat me on my back with a stick and there were deep wounds.
They took me to the Mukhya but then they bound me on a tree with my
hands bound to the back and left. I have the mark of the ropes even now
on my arms. They left me there like that and reported to the Mukhya. He
came and set me free.

[With thanks to Fr Anand of Bhopal and Pastor PG Vargis]