AHRC has been informed by reliable sources that between 6-11 April 2000, three Christians missionary school have been attacked by armed groups in Mathura district, Uttar Pradesh, India. The schools attacked were the Sacred Heart School, St Dominic Convent School and St. Teresa School.
Its alleged that the attacks were well planned and orchestrated by an organised body. The modus operandi has been the same in all the three cases. A group of 10-20 armed persons enter the school campus, they severely beat up the Principal and other members of the school, vandalise school property and loot whatever cash or valuables.
These school attacks could be linked to the March conference of the Bajrang Dal, a Hindu Nationalist organisation,held in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh at which cadres were trained to counter the activities of alleged anti-national forces (meaning the minority Muslims and Christians communities). The State government, however, has thus
far not released any information on the identity or political
affiliations of the attackers. It appears that nothing has been
done to investigate or try the perpetrators of these latest
crimes against Christian communities in India.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
India is a nation of diverse religions and languages governed by a secular state. The 1949 Constitution of India declares the nation to be a ¡°Sovereign Secular State.¡± Article 15 declares that ¡° the State shall not discriminate against any citizens on grounds only of religion…¡± There is no law banning proselytizing by 23 million Indian Christians, but the government has refused to admit new resident missionaries since the mid-1960¡¯s.
Christians make up only 2.5% of the population of India. In the 50 years leading up to Christmas 1997, there were 39 incidents of violence towards Christians recorded. Since then, there have been well over 100 serious attacks on Christians by Hindu extremists. Missionaries are harassed, churches and Bibles are burned in Gujrat, religious molested in Uttar Pradesh, a nun raped in Madhya Pradesh, a priest paraded naked Bihar and Rani Maria in Madhya Pradesh and K T Thomas in Bihar are murdered. 2 September 1997, in Dumka, Bihar a Jesuit Priest, Father Swaminathan Christudas, vice-principal and hostel superintendent of St. Joseph’s School, was beaten with sticks and paraded naked.
Christians groups consistently work amongst the poorest sectors of India such as the ¡°Untouchables¡± (called ‘Dalits¡¯), who have been oppressed through the Hindu caste system. The Government has been accused of inaction, failing to bring to justice many of the perpetrators of these acts. In the Northern and Western regions where these attacks are common, local police and authorities and State governments have been accused of standing by while the violence takes place.
The death of the Australian missionary and his sons brought a strong response from the Government, but other similar acts have been ignored, despite many letters of appeal, rallies and even hunger strikes by various Christian communities. The dramatic increase in attacks since the Hindu Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power points to the fact that, even if the government is not directing the campaign of violence, the perpetrators certainly feel they will be provided with impunity under Prime Minister Vajpayee.
RECOMMENDED ACTION
Please write letters, faxes or emails to Prime Minister Vajpayee and the others listed below, urging them to investigate and punish the perpetrators of the school attacks, and also to take strong action to stem the increasing violence against non-Hindu Indians. A sample letter follows.
Dear Prime Minister,
I am shocked by the rising level of violence against minority communities especially Christians taking place in certain parts of your country. Until recently, I considered India to be a tolerant society, which welcomed people of many cultures and faiths. But the lack of action on the part of Indian authorities in the face of horrific acts of violence against minorities including Christians makes me think that they consider it acceptable for Hindu fundamentalist groups to attack people of minority faiths.
It has come to my attention that in a recent example of this violence, three Christian schools in Mathura district, Uttar Pradesh were vandalized and robbed and their principals beaten up. The attacks were conducted by groups of 10-20 armed persons and were obviously planned, orchestrated and carried out by an organisation opposed to Christianity. The training of persons to attack non-Hindu people and places recently conducted alleged by the Bajrang Dal group makes this a suspect group for the solving of these crimes.
I urge you to send a strong message to the perpetrators of these crimes that attacking people on the basis of faith is unacceptable in India. Such a message would be sent by investigating this crime, making public the names of the perpetrators and the organisation they are affiliated with, trying the organisers and the attackers in court, and publicly condemning the action of groups and persons involved in similar attacks against Christians and Muslims.
Yours sincerely,
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SEND APPEALS TO:
President K. R. Narayan
Office of the President
Rashtrapati Bhavan
New Delhi 110 001
INDIA
FAX: 91 11 301 7290
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee
South Block Gate NO. 6
New Delhi 110 001
INDIA
Fax: 91 11 301 9817
Email: pressecy@alpha.nic.in
Mr. Ram Prakash Gupta
Chief Minister, State of Uttar Pradesh
5 Kalidas Marg
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
INDIA
Justice J. S. Verma
Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission
Sardar Patel Bhavan
Sandas Marg
New Delhi 110 001
INDIA
Fax: 91 – 11 336 6537
Email: nhrc_del@nicgw.nic.in
CC COPIES TO:
Mr. Kofi Annan
Secretary-General of United Nations
Secretary General
United Nations Room S-3800
New York NY 10017
Fax: 603-2910707
Email: ecu@un.org
Mary Robinson
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights
Palais des Nations, 8-14 avenue de la Paix
CH 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Telephone number: (41 22) 9173456
Fax: 41 – 22 – 917 0213
Fax: 41 – 22 – 917 0022 (Hotline – Human Rights)
E-mail: webadmin.hchr@unog.ch
Mr. Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur,
Elimination of all Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination
based on Religion or Belief
c/o Centre for Human Rights
Palais des Nations
8-14, avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10 , Switzerland
fax to: (41-22) 917.01.23,
email: webadmin.hchr@unog.ch
