Members of the Christian community in the national capital on February 19, staged a protest here to draw the government, Judiciary and civil society’s attention to the “rising incidents of crime against the community”.
The community will also be sending a memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu, asking for a National Redressal Commission headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to address the issues of “targeted” violence against the community.
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The memorandum, which was signed by the community members here on Sunday, said “continued waves of vile hate speech and targeted violence have buffeted the Christian community in recent years, and in particular in 2022-23. The violence seems to have reached a crescendo in January and February 2023”.
It said, that of particular concern were the States of Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Jharkhand.
It flagged registration of malicious FIRs, non-registration of FIRs despite complaints filed by victims, lack of CCTVs in police stations and illegal detentions as chief concerns.
Strengthen monitoring mechanisms
The memorandum sought the strengthening of human rights monitoring mechanisms, including the National Commission for Minorities and National Human Rights Commission, speedy closure of cases where false allegations had been leveled against Christians and the constitution of a National Redressal Commission headed by a retired Supreme Court judge with representation of the community in order to address the issue.
One of the members of the community who was present at the protest in Jantar Mantar said: “We are being accused of forcibly converting people to Christianity. Churches are being attacked, our people are being beaten up and arrested. The community members are living in a constant state of panic.”
Shivpal from Uttar Pradesh claimed that the State Police had been arresting people over allegations of forced conversions.
In a press release issued, the community said that “The United Christian Forum, a human rights groups based in New Delhi that monitors atrocities against Christians in India, has recorded a total of 598 incidents of violence against Christians from 21 States till the end of December 2022”.
