ALL INDIA CHRISTIAN COUNCIL

Press Note

29 June 2009

Christians seek urgent protection of witnesses of Orissa violence, rehabilitation of victims of Orissa violence, SC rights for Dalit Christians

The Christian community today asked the Union government to intervene decisively in Orissa and ensure the protection of witnesses whose lives are being threatened by criminals, including politicians and legislators of the Bharatiya Janata Party charged with multiple murders in the anti Christian violence of August-October 2008.

Community representatives were invited today by the new Central Minister for Minority Affairs, Mr. Salman Khursheed, at his offices to appraise himself of the issues confronting the 2.6 crore [26 million] Christians in the country. The Christian delegation consisted of Delhi Catholic auxiliary Bishop Franco, Believers Bishop Simon John, All India Christian Council Secretary General Dr John Dayal, Sister Molly of St Beads College, Shimla and others. The Minister said he would take up with concerned ministries in the Union government and with the state governments issues that had been brought to his notice.

The Christian delegation demanded that the community be consulted in the formulation of the proposed Equal Opportunities Commission, the Anti-Communal Violence Bill and the Educational reforms that Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal has proposed in his public statements recently. The delegation also impressed on the minister the urgent need to give Scheduled Caste status to Dalit Christians, the setting up of a Commission to assess economic deprivation in the community on the lines of the Justice Sachhar committee for Muslims, commensurate share in central development funds, full relief and rehabilitation to all victims of communal violence in Orissa and other states, an end to harassment of Christian educational institutions, pastors, evangelists in various states, and abrogation of all so called Freedom of Religion laws passed by both BJP and Congress ruled states.

The following is the text of the memo presented to the minister:

Mr Salman Khursheed

Hon’ble Minister, Independent Charge

Ministry for Minority Affairs, New Delhi

Dear Minister

Greetings from the All India Christian Council and the other organisations I have the honour to represent. Please also accept our congratulations on your election to the Lok Sabha, and your installation as Minister with Independent Charge of Minority Affairs, an important portfolio that can help ensure strengthening of the very foundations of a secular and united India.

We thank you for inviting us to this meeting, even as we take this opportunity to express how touched we are at the feelings expressed last week by Union Home Minister Mr P Chidambaram who, during his visit to Orissa, offered an apology to the victims of Hindutva violence in the Kandhamal region. We expect the expressions of remorse will be followed by unremitting action by the Union and State governments in unison till confidence is restored, the guilty punished, the victims rehabilitated with all human dignity, and a Witness Protection Programme put into operation to ensure justice in the courts. My colleague Dr. Sampaul, the National Secretary of the All India Christian Council, has already written this in a letter to Mr Chidambaram.

As you are aware, the Church in India called upon all people, and specially Christians, to fully take part in the political democratic process in the General Elections, as it wanted India to emerge as nation strong enough to combat terrorism, communalism, and casteism. We continue to be deeply concerned at the rural crisis, urban poverty, and rise in unemployment, displacement in the SEZs – as Christians too are sufferers together with others -- and the plight of women and the girl child.

The Christian community puts its own interests subservient to the interests of the Nation. But it feels that there are certain issues which are paramount – security of Religious Minorities, compensation to the victims at par with that given in other states, proportionate share to Christians in funds and projects earmarked for all minorities, as also in government jobs, civil services, police and other services, and removal of obstructions in the continuation and growth of our effort in the education, health and social service sectors.

On the eve of the General Elections, National consultations of Church and community leaders, presided over by Archbishop Vincent Concessao, with Dr John Dayal as the convenor, formulated urgent issues agitating the community. We had given such a list to the Prime Minister in his previous government and to your predecessor in the ministry. We also held consultations with the Planning Commission once to ensure that the National Five year Plans, as well as the National Census and National Sample Surveys reflected the Christian reality in the hinterland. Nothing has been done, and therefore we present you once again some, not all, of the grave issues that confront the Christian community and challenge the people and the Church.

Our immediate anxiety, of course, continues to be Orissa where the situation remains grave, as Mr Chidambaram saw for himself, with thousands in government refugee camps, tens of thousands not able to return home under threat of being killed or forcibly converted to Hinduism by the local Sabah Parivar activists, and witnesses to murders, rape and mayhem being threatened with death by goons of the culprits. It is a shame and slur on democratic processes that two of the men accused of murders have been elected to the State Assembly on Bharatiya Janata Party ticket, and they are using their political clout to evade justice.

Our other major issues, requiring your urgent attention are:

1. Security of Religious Minorities: The Christian community had felt itself very safe in India since Independence, and the formative years of the democracy under Jawaharlal Nehru, and then under the premiership of Lal Bahadur Shashtri, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. But after a spurt of violence in 1998-1999, hate crimes against the Church and the Christian community have been increasing alarmingly since 1997, averaging about 250 incidents a year. But 2007 and 2008 have seen such violence reach an unprecedented level. The violence has not been confined to Orissa. Fourteen other States have been affected, seven seriously. Karnataka is now second only to Orissa in crimes against Christians. Orissa in 2008 saw 120 deaths, 4,600 houses burnt, over 300 villages purged of Christians, and women, including religious women, raped. Six thousand men, women and children are still in government refugee camps, from the peak of 26,000. Battalions of Central forces are needed to maintain peace, and yet a sense of deep insecurity permeates the community in Orissa.

a. The Union Government must carry out a full investigation into the nationwide activities of extremist groups accused of the incitement and perpetration of violence against minority groups, including Hindutva groups, their foreign finances, and their penetration into the administrative and police apparatus.

b. Enforcing rule of law, ending Impunity of state, Police and criminal justice dispensation system in assuring Freedom of Faith: In State after State, the community has watched in utter helplessness uniformed Policemen accompany assailants attacking institutions, churches and house churches. In States such as Manipur, even villages have dared pass laws against Christians, banning conversions and excommunicating people. Pastors and Priests have been arrested on false charges, denied bail, and harassed. Often, the police have stood by while Priests, pastors and Lay persons were beaten up, often in the glare of Television Cameras. The Subordinate magistracy and judiciary have often been partisan in their conduct. This impunity must end.

c. The Prevention of Communal Violence Bill must take cognisance of Christian concerns and apprehensions. Government cannot shrug off responsibility. The rehabilitation seems to have been left to the Church. It is for the governments to reconstruct damaged and destroyed homes, institutions and churches, and provide adequate and commensurate compensation to the victims. These would be deterrent, in fact, to violence against the community.

2. Redress Economic deprivation and reversal of Unemployment and under-employment amongst Christian youth—Need for a National Commission on the lines of the Justice Rajender Sachhar Commission set up for Muslims: There is over 8 [Eight] per cent joblessness amongst Christian youth, the highest among minorities. Tribal Christian girls are amongst the most deprived in terms of education and nourishment. Rural employment generation schemes and central special components for marginalised groups do not reach their Christian counterparts in Tribal and Rural India There is no real assessment as to what extent institutions such as the National Minorities Financial Development Corporation, or sundry scholarship schemes have benefitted the Christian community even if they may have benefited some other Minorities. The Government must urgently set up a Commission on the Pattern of the Justice Sachhar committee to survey and assess the quantum of deprivation, marginalisation and lack of devolution of developmental initiatives, to the Christian community. Government must ensure fair spending on a pro rata basis on the Christian community from schemed meant to benefit the minority communities. Dalits, Tribals, Landless labour and marginal farmers, coastal and fishery workers and urban youth remain major victims.

3. Dalit Christian rights: Successive governments have betrayed Christians of Dalit origin. The Constitution of 1950 provided for affirmative action for Scheduled Castes without reference to religion. The Presidential Order of 1950, subsequently made into law, communalised the affirmative action by penalising those who converted to other faiths. Subsequently, government extended the privileges once again to Sikhs and Buddhists of Dalit origin. Christians remain deprived of these rights, though several Study Groups and National Commissions have strongly recommended that these rights be given to Dalit Christians. This in effect communalises the secular Indian Constitution. Government must pass legislation to immediately restore the Constitution to its 26 January 1950 position on this issue so that Dalit Christians get all privileges and safeguards that are given to their brothers and sisters professing other faiths. The recommendations of the Justice Rang Nath Misra Commission should be implemented.

4. Assault on right of Tribal Christians: Strident and frightening statements have been made in right wing Hindutva groups in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, among others, threatening to deny Christian Tribals their statutory rights in Education, land and employment, and to restrict Tribal rights to only those who convert to Hinduism. This violates Constitutional guarantees, and divided the Tribal people. The Union government must thwart all such nefarious efforts and hate mongering.

5. Irrational and Bigoted implementation of Forest Act and its implications for Dalit Christians: Recent experience in Orissa’s Kandhamal and other districts have shown how Supreme Court guidelines are being ignored in the implementation of the Forest Act, and traditional forest dwellers, many of them Dalits, are being deprived of their land, livelihood and even liberty as false cases are being brought against them. This, of course, must cease forthwith. The right of all indigenous dwellers must be protected according to the guidelines of the Supreme Court and witch-hunt and harassment must end.

6. Erosion of Minority rights under Article 30: Various State governments and political parties have tried to infringe upon Article 30, and have made persistent efforts to erode the rights of Minorities to run and administer educational institutions. Christian educational institutions have frequently had to approach the Supreme Court of India to try to protect these fundamental rights. The ironically titled Freedom of Religion Bills actually erodes the Constitutional right to Freedom to profess, practice and propagate faith. They have become instruments of persecution, and in fact, provide an excuse for criminal and communal elements to target the Church and Christian workers in particular when they exercise their right to propagate their faith. Government must assure there will be no effort in the future to infringe upon, erode, or nibble at Minority educational and other Constitutional rights under any pretext.

7. The Union government must use its good offices to ensure that state governments – both under Congress Control and run by other parties – withdraw laws they have passed under the guise of Freedom of Religion, which in actuality, are being used to brutally suppress Christianity and punish Pastors, Priests, Nuns and church workers.

8. Shrinking Secular-Spiritual Space: State and city administrations are auctioning land for schools and hospitals in the Open Market. The result is that the Church and Voluntary sector can no longer get legal possession of low cost land for providing Educational and health facilities to the marginalised groups are affordable prices. In addition, new townships and urban spaces, most of them now in the private sector, do not provide for simple and basic Secular spaces, including plots of land for Churches and cemeteries. In many new urban conglomerates in the emerging landscape, there is, in fact, no provision for cemeteries at all. Union and State Governments must ensure adequate and commensurate Secular and Spiritual Space – Education land, cemeteries etc

9. Ending gender-bias and upholding the rights of women in reforms in Christian Personal Laws: Christian Women more than a decade ago led a campaign for reforms in Christian personal laws which dated from the Nineteenth Century. Though some progress has been made, Governments have been tardy in passing reform amendments to the centuries' old Christian personal laws despite the united endorsement and support by the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, the National Council of Churches, the Joint Women’s Programme and others. Political parties must assure the community that laws will reformed in full as devised in the documents prepared by the united Christian campaign to bring them in line with contemporary demands of gender rights.

10. We welcome the concept of an Equal Opportunity commission, but it must be formed in consultation with the Christian community and other minority groups.

11. We also demand statutory status to the Minority Commission and assurances that such Central commissions work for the actual benefit of the communities and not as adjuncts of political parties.

12. The Church and the Community uphold the sanctity of life and any attempt to destroy it at any stage is unacceptable. Advances and research in science, such as stem cell research, cloning, transplants, must be in consonance with ethical and moral values. Legislation must not be passed which compromises human life in any form and which justifies meddling with the established processes in nature in the guise of scientific research.

13. Special Memorandum on Orissa: The Union government must use its good offices with the Orissa government to:

i. Ensure that (with reference to the ruling of the Supreme Court in Writ Petitions) police unfailingly assist victims of violence to submit FIRs.

ii. There must be a Witness Protection Programme put into immediate operation giving serious consideration to the need for a suitable atmosphere for victims and witnesses to testify, in order to expedite prosecutions and convictions;

iii. Investigate reports of police officers failing to register cases or showing complicity in attacks, and bring prosecutions against offending officers;

iv. Supply a substantial number of investigating officers and public prosecutors, and implement fast-track courts in at least four locations in Kandhamal district.

v. Investigate the forcible conversion of Christians to Hinduism, and prosecute perpetrators under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code;

vi. Request that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) carry out an investigation into the assassination of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Lakhmanananda Saraswati and the subsequent anti-Christian violence from 24^th August 2008, paying specific attention to the root causes of this violence, including the propagation of anti-Christian hatred;

vii. Undertake the following actions with regard to relief camps, taking into consideration the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement:

1. Provide an adequate standard of living to the inhabitants of relief camps, in accordance with the definition given in Principle 18;

2. Provide education to displaced children in relief camps, in accordance with Principle 23;

3. Ensure that relief camps continue until the establishment of suitable conditions and the means for the displaced persons to return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, to their homes, or to resettle voluntarily, in accordance with Principle 28;

4. Grant permission and security to lawyers, priests and medical teams to visit relief camps in Kandhamal;

viii. Provide further compensation for those who have been affected by the violence, including covering the loss of crops, livestock and employment, and assess required levels of compensation on a case-by-case basis through certified independent evaluators;

ix. The Government should take measures to carry out an extensive research with the view to rehabilitating the victims of violence, make the recommendations public, and implement them without loss of time.

x. Undertake to follow the recommendations of the National Commission for Minorities in September 2008 on the establishment of Peace Committees, and further to take measures to ensure that all communities are adequately represented within such Peace Committees, to enable these to promote reconciliation and inter-communal understanding with integrity;

xi. Establish a State Commission for Minorities (in the model of its national counterpart) and ensure that members of the commission are appointed by transparent and non-partisan procedures;

xii. Repeal the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, 1967.

xiii. Provide further compensation for those who have been affected by the violence, including covering the loss of crops, livestock and employment, and assess required levels of compensation on a case-by-case basis through certified independent evaluators;

Thank you

God Bless India

Dr. John Dayal