According to a fact-finding report released on Sunday, Karnataka ranks third among the states with the highest number of attacks on members of the Christian community and their places of worship. The report, which is a joint initiative of United Christian Forum, Association for Protection of Civil Rights and United Against Hate, also revealed that Karnataka recorded the highest number of incidents among the states of South India.
The report documented calls received on the helpline of the United Christian Forum. Till September this year, the helpline registered 305 cases across India. Of these, 288 were mob attacks and in 28 cases, places of worship were damaged. In 85 cases, the police officials did not allow the congregation. A total of 1,331 women, 588 tribals and 513 Dalits were injured in these attacks, the report said.
Out of 305 incidents, 66 were from Uttar Pradesh, 47 from Chhattisgarh and 32 from Karnataka. The report noted an increase in attacks in Karnataka in October and November, when the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is considering an anti-conversion law. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has announced that his government will pass the bill in the Belagavi Assembly session beginning December 13.
Rev. Peter Machado, Archbishop, Archdiocese of Bangalore, who released the report, said he was sad that Karnataka, known for its progressive politics and for being the country’s IT hub, had made such a “dubious distinction”. have gained. “It seems we have lost our humanity,” he said.
The report may have recorded only a fraction of the attacks as it documents only those that the UCF helpline received. “There have been several attacks in remote areas of North Karnataka, there have been disruptions in prayers and we are really concerned about the safety of the priests there. Many people have also left without reports,” he said. The report also does not document that most of these attacks have been led by right-wing groups and that the police have failed to act. Instead, members of the community have heaped a slew of cases on him – he has both been attacked and booked, the archbishop said. “In Belagavi, the police have asked community members not to hold prayer meetings during the legislature session,” he said.
‘Will write to the parents of the students’
Rev. Machado announced that the church would seek the opinion of parents of students enrolled in educational institutions. “We will write to the parents of all the students in our educational institutions asking if they have been discriminated against or whether any attempt has been made to convert their children. With this, we want to mobilize wide public opinion against the anti-conversion law, which the government wants to bring,” he said.
He added: “What started as a similar campaign against the community in Odisha turned into a genocide in a decade’s time. The anti-conversion law would only give the goons the right to take the law into their own hands. What is needed is whether Odisha is a model we need to emulate.”
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