False narrative created over attacks on Christians, Centre tells SC

Out of the 495 alleged cases of attacks on Christian institutions and priests, 232 were reported to the police of eight states like Bihar and Chhattisgarh, and even family feuds and private land disputes have been shown as ”communal targeting” to ”create a false narrative” about India.

Asserting that India is ”vibrant pluralistic society” founded on strong democratic principles, the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA), in an affidavit filed before the top court, disputed the data related to alleged communal targeting of Christians and their institutions, saying they are wrong and exaggerated and the petitioners wanted to keep ”the pot boiling” to sully the nation's image abroad.

An affidavit was filed by the MHA before a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala which was hearing a PIL by Rev Peter Machado of the National Solidarity Forum and Rev Vijayesh Lal of Evangelical Fellowship of India claiming violence against members of the Christian community.

”Even family feuds and private land disputes being shown as communal targeting,” the Centre said, adding, ”The attempt of the petitioner is to paint a particular false picture for aims unknown to it... The country is governed by the rule of the law and the attempt of the petitioner to create a false narrative through the present petition is an attempt to short circuit the process of law followed by the entire country.”

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, was referring to the data of eight state governments -- Bihar, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha -- about the veracity and status of the 495 criminal incidents which were referred to by the PIL petitioners before the apex court.

The affidavit, filed P Venukuttan Nair, deputy secretary in the MHA, said, ”The perusal of verification reports furnished reveals that state governments have stated that the majority of incidents (263 out of 495) from the list furnished by the counsel of the petitioner have not been reported to them.”

Out of 232 incidents, which have been reported to the state governments concerned, the matters were resolved in 73 incidents amicably with mutual agreement between the parties, the MHA said.

”These 73 incidents were related to land dispute, family dispute, superstitious practices, violation of Covid-19  guidelines and other trivial issues. The FIRs or non-cognisable offence reports (NCRs) were registered in the remaining 155 cases,” it said.

Across these eight states 334 persons were arrested, the MHA said.

”It is submitted that the petitioners gathered through sources like press reports... the said reports, which formed basis of the present petition, seeks to portray any and all criminal cases, in which the victim party was of particular religion, as incidents of violence against the victim due to religious reasons without there being any factual basis behind such presumption,” the Centre said.

The PIL petitioners ”exaggerated the number of incidents” and many incidents alleged as Christian persecution in the report of the petitioner may have been either false or wrongly projected, it said.

It said the states verified the so-called fact finding report of the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) and others and they said that many allegations and observations were found to be ”unfounded and majority of incidents quoted either were false or deliberately exaggerated and uncorroborated”.

”India is a vibrant pluralistic society founded on strong democratic principles and practices. The Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights to all citizens including the Right to freedom of Religion under 25 to 28 of the Constitution,” it said.

Dealing with Bihar figures, the MHA report said out of 38 incidents verified only 15 were reported and out of them, five cases were resolved and in 10 incidents cases were lodged.

In Bihar 12 persons were arrested and the charge sheet was filed in two cases, the MHA said.

In Chhattisgarh, the petitioners alleged 119 incidents of attack on Christians and their institutions took place. However, only 36 cases were reported, it said, adding that 24 cases were registered and 64 accused arrested.

The Chhattisgarh police have filed charge sheet in 13 cases, it said.