(UCAN): Christian groups demanded an independent agency to monitor anti-Christian violence in India stressing that groups associated with the ruling pro-Hindu party are behind these sectarian crimes.
The demand came during the hearing of a petition in the Supreme Court on May 8 after the federal government named some Hindu groups among others who are accused of isolated attacks against Christians.
The government reportedly named groups such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad [World Hindu Council] and the Bajarang Dal [brigade of Lord Hanuman] among the groups involved in isolated attacks but denied any organised persecution against Christians in the country.
The petitioners, led by Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore, and the National Solidarity Forum and the Evangelical Fellowship of India, moved the Supreme Court in 2021, seeking its intervention to contain violence against Christians, which they said increased after the BJP government came to power in 2014.
The federal government itself has admitted that political groups linked to it were involved in sectarian crimes. The “federal government, therefore, cannot be relied upon or trusted with monitoring or reporting,” petitioners told the court.
The petitioners, led by Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore, and the National Solidarity Forum and the Evangelical Fellowship of India, moved the Supreme Court in 2021, seeking its intervention to contain violence against Christians, which they said increased after the BJP government came to power in 2014
The monitoring agency, according to the petitioners, should be headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and should include distinguished police officials as members.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajarang Dal, and the ruling BJP are among the Hindu groups that subscribe to Hindutva, the idea of making India a country of Hindu hegemony.
Crucial states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka have enacted anti-conversion laws, which Christian leaders say are often used by pro-Hindu groups to target Christians.
The three-judge bench, headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, is yet to respond to the demand by Archbishop Machado and others.
At the court, the federal government, headed by prime minister, Narendra Modi, has always opposed any move to monitor violence against Christians across India.
The federal government has consistently denied persecution, saying before the court that “there is no persecution against Christians in the country.”
The petitioners are “placing reliance on baseless and unverified reports [on attacks against them]. They are presenting “certain personal disputes as communal crimes,” the government told the court in an affidavit.
The petitioners have alleged that the anti-conversion laws in 11 provinces are often used against Christians.
