International
Christian Concern (ICC) learned that police officials in India’s
Karnataka state banned a community of Christians from gathering for
worship services indefinitely. The officials justified this
unconstitutional action by claiming that none of the approximately 50
Christians were Christian by birth and must have been coercively or
fraudulently converted to Christianity.
On January 4, 2021, 15
Christian families in Bannimardatti village, located in the Hassan
District, were summoned to a meeting with the Deputy Superintendent of
Police (DSP) along with other police officials. At the meeting, the DSP
asked the Christians to show evidence that they were Christian and
accused them of collecting government benefits as both Christians and
Hindus.
The DSP then banned the Christians from gathering for
worship in Bannimardatti village. The official justified this order by
claiming none of the Christians in Bannimardatti village were Christian
at birth and falsely claimed they were coercively or fraudulently
converted to Christianity.
“This is the final attempt of Hindu radicals using the state police to clamp down on Christian activities,” a local Christian told ICC on the condition of anonymity. “They
have tried everything including social boycotts and physical beatings.
However, local Christians remained faithful in the midst of continued
harassment.”
The DSP’s order is in direct conflict of the
religious freedom rights held by India’s citizens under Article 25 of
the constitution. According to Article 25, Indian citizens are given the
freedom to profess, practice, and propagate the religion of their
choice.
“There is no freedom whatsoever to gather for worship and practice the faith of our choice,” a local pastor told ICC. “The
divide between communities is growing and the anti-conversion law that
the state government of Karnataka is trying to enact will worsen the
situation for religious minorities.”
Recently, Karnataka’s
state government, led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politicians,
pledged to enact a law to regulate religious conversions and criminalize
fraudulent religious conversions. Three other BJP-led states, including
Madhya Pradesh, Assam, and Haryana, have made similar pledges after
Uttar Pradesh, another BJP-led state, promulgated India’s newest
anti-conversion law in November 2020.
Radical Hindu nationalists
have used the specter of mass religious conversions to Christianity as
justification to pass similar laws limiting religious freedom. According
to these nationalists, Indian Christians are accused of converting poor
Hindus to Christianity in mass by fraudulent means.
However,
India’s own population data does not support this conspiracy. In 1951,
the first census after independence, Christians made up 2.3% of India’s
population. According to the 2011 census, the most recent census data
available, Christians still make up 2.3% of the population.
In
states where similar anti-conversion laws are currently enacted,
including Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,
Gujarat, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, and Uttar Pradesh,
they are widely abused. Radical nationalists abuse these laws by falsely
accusing Christians of forcefully converting individuals to
Christianity to justify harassment and assault. Local police often
overlook violence perpetrated against Christians due to the false
accusation of forced conversions.
To date, no individual has been
convicted of forced conversion in India. This is in spite of the fact
that some of the anti-conversion laws have been on the books since 1967.
William Stark, ICC’s Regional Manager, said, “We
here at International Christian Concern are deeply concerned by the
actions taken by police in Karnataka. India’s police should be
protecting the rights of the country’s citizens, not unilaterally
stripping citizens of their rights due to their religious identity.
Article 25 of India’s constitution is very clear. All Indians have the
right to profess, practice, and propagate the religion of their choice.
What the police in Karnataka have done to the Christians of
Bannimardatti is simply wrong and unconstitutional.”
International Christian Concern is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) charitable organization focused on human rights, religious freedom and assisting the persecuted Christian Church around the world.
Media Contact
Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator
E-mail: press@persecution.org
Phone: (301)-859-3842
International Christian Concern
2020 Pennsylvania Ave. NW #941, Washington, D.C. 20006
www.persecution.org | E-mail: icc@persecution.org
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