Attacks on Christian community, institutions | Supreme Court gives Home Ministry two weeks to collate data on action taken by at least eight States

The Supreme Court on March 29 gave the Home Ministry exactly two weeks to collate data on action taken by at least eight States regarding the registration of FIRs, status of investigation, arrests and charge sheets filed in incidents petitioners allege as attacks targeting Christian community and institutions. Chief Justice of India D. Y. Chandrachud pointed out that the order to collate the details and file a report in the apex court was given to the Ministry in September last year. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, for the Ministry, said some of the States took time to respond.

The Supreme Court on March 29 gave the Home Ministry exactly two weeks to collate data on action taken by at least eight States regarding the registration of FIRs, status of investigation, arrests and charge sheets filed in incidents petitioners allege as attacks targeting Christian community and institutions.

Chief Justice of India D. Y. Chandrachud pointed out that the order to collate the details and file a report in the apex court was given to the Ministry in September last year. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, for the Ministry, said some of the States took time to respond.

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, for petitioners Rev. Dr. Peter Machado of National Solidarity Forum, Rev. Vijayesh Lal of Evangelical Fellowship of India and others, said attacks against Christians have seen an “exponential rise” post 2022.

“Christians are attacked and FIRs are filed against Christians,” Mr. Gonsalves submitted. He said “priests are arrested. FIRs are filed against Christians and they are struggling to get bail”.

He said there was an explosion of community hate in certain sections of the media and rallies. Mr. Gonsalves said the apex court had ordered the appointment of nodal police officers to keep a watch on hate and even prevent it from manifesting by filing FIRs against the perpetrators. “Not a single FIR has been filed,” he said. Ms. Bhati said the petitioner ought not to indulge in sweeping remarks.

The court finally listed the case on April 14, saying it would await the Home Ministry report before issuing formal notice to the States. The eight States in question are Bihar, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

These States have to verify the action taken by their law enforcement agencies on the incidents of “criminal wrongdoings” which happened in 2021, as alleged in the petitions filed by the States have to submit their verification reports to the Ministry, which would in turn file an affidavit in the Supreme Court.