Tribal Christians in Thane harassed by members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad

Mathai to meet RR Patil today
Anupam Dasgupta
Friday, November 02, 2007

MUMBAI: Abraham Mathai, vice-chairman of the state Minorities’ Commission, has alleged that tribal Christians in Thane were being harassed by members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and its frontal organisation, the Vanbashi Kalyan Parishad. Mathai said he would meet Deputy CM RR Patil today to discuss the plight of tribal minorities.

Mathai criticised the partisan role of the police in the entire issue. He claimed villagers were being mistreated and beaten up by VHP activists. “At least five incidents of harassment have come to our notice in the past month. It is shocking that the state has been blind to the woes of tribal Christians,” he said.

In some cases, tribal Christians were targeted and beaten for attending community prayer meetings while the police mostly chose to be spectators, Mathai said.

He claimed the Commission had listed places where tribal villagers had been attacked in the past few weeks — namely Vikramgarh, Mokhada, Wada and Manor.