The Akhila Bharatha Christha Mahasabha has submitted a memorandum to director basic and inspector basic of police Praveen Sood “looking for safety” throughout Christmas celebration within the state. A delegation requested the state police chief to offer safety to the church buildings throughout the state, fearing assaults on the identical.
“Because the enactment of the anti-conversion regulation, the Christian neighborhood is reeling underneath assaults and going through prison costs. The neighborhood throughout the globe will rejoice Christmas from December 1 until new yr, singing carols and conducting particular prayers as customary practices. Nevertheless, contemplating the current state of affairs, Christians are apprehensive of collaborating in carol singing and visiting the homes of church members throughout evening for good needs as they could face assaults,” the letter learn .
“Therefore, we request the director basic and inspector basic of police to problem mandatory instructions to the district police heads and jurisdictional police stations to make sure mandatory safety to assist the neighborhood to rejoice the pageant peacefully,” mentioned the letter.
In keeping with a report by Folks’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Karnataka reported 39 incidents of hate crimes towards the Christian neighborhood in 2021.
The report, titled ‘Criminalizing the Apply of Religion’, listed out the 39 incidents claiming that in some circumstances “the police division and a few politicians colluded with right-wing organisations in finishing up these assaults”. BJP state spokesperson Ganesh Karnik, nonetheless, mentioned: “The celebration has not indulged in any violence, however it solely needs to convey a invoice that stops compelled conversions within the state. The report just isn’t factual.”
“Given the frequency and depth of those assaults, our report depends on the Christian neighborhood’s narratives of surviving majoritarian violence. The members of the Christian neighborhood particularly in rural Karnataka proceed to face threats of violence, discrimination, and survival throughout their on a regular basis lives,” the report alleged.
In keeping with PUCL, the report documented assaults on pastors, believers, and church buildings in Karnataka, the modus operandi of the teams behind these assaults and the patterns that emerge from these assaults.
In keeping with the report, most often, Christians have been “compelled to close down their locations of worship and stopped from assembling for his or her Sunday prayers”. “Successfully, these assaults on praying in a gathering that’s enforced by Hindutva teams with the complicity of the state perform as a bar on the liberty to follow faith itself. Removed from the proper to propagate faith, in the present day the assaults in Karnataka are on the proper to freely profess and practise faith,” learn the report.
The report listed a number of right-wing organisations, alleging their position within the assault and claimed that two MLAs of the ruling BJP have been additionally concerned within the assaults. “In two cases of hate crimes in Karwar (October 4) and Mandya (January 25), BJP MLA Sunil Kumar and 3-time BJP MLA Narayana Gowda (at present minister of state for youth empowerment and sports activities, planning, program monitoring, and statistics) have been additionally named as individuals who supported the police in concentrating on Christians,” the report mentioned.
Whereas the 2 BJP legislators weren’t obtainable for feedback, BJP spokesperson Karnik denied these allegations. “Leaders talked about within the report, particularly Sunil Kumar, are leaders are who’re bringing the cadre collectively in Karnataka for BJP, and that is an try to tarnish their repute,” he mentioned.