under the guise of policemen, beat him brutally, shaved half of his head, eyebrows and mustache, and paraded him on a donkey for about half an hour. The pastor was later charged with forcible conversion.
Tribal Factor
Findings from Bastar District in Chhattisgarh state, central India, suggest systematic attempts to persecute Christian minorities. Such attempts include hate campaigns and misuse of laws that grant rights of self-governance and preservation of culture to tribal (Adivasi) villages to provoke communal tensions.
Hindu radical groups have succeeded in associating local cultural and customs legislation with Hindu religious practices, denouncing everything non-Hindu as a threat to their culture and identity. Section 129 (c) of the Chhattisgarh Gram Panchayat Act states, “The Gram Sabha shall have the power to safeguard and preserve the traditions and customs of the people, their cultural identity and community resources and customary mode of dispute resolution.”
Such laws are used to restrict Christians from practicing and propagating their faith.
EFIRCL’s report includes detailed and alarming accounts of several other incidents of violence against Christians.
Lal issued the following recommendations in the report:
- Enact a comprehensive hate crimes legislation to safeguard the rights of religious minorities.
- The Ministry of Home Affairs should provide trainings on human rights and religious freedom standards and practices to the state and central police and judiciary.
- Although maintenance of public order is a state responsibility, the central government should issue an advisory to the state governments to repeal the anti-conversion laws.
- The government should ensure an active Commission for Human Rights and Commission for Minorities is operational in every state, and that members of each commission are appointed by transparent and non-partisan procedures.
- Prevent and pursue, through the judicial process, all violent acts against religious and tribal minorities and Dalits.
