In comments monitored by BosNewsLife Tuesday, October 9, state officials said Governor E S L Narasimhan made the decision over the weekend after the president of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, Rajnath Singh, reportedly ordered all authorities in regions where is his party is in a majority to create "a legislation that would ensure punishing of people involved in forceful conversions”.
The move comes after elsewhere in India, Madhya Pradesh became the fourth state to introduce controversial legislation, seen by rights groups as an attempt by Hindu groups to prevent the spread of Christianity in the country. Madhya Pradesh and the states of Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Himachal Pradeshr introduced the legalization, which requires any person wishing to convert to give a prior notice of at least 30 days and prohibits conversion by “force or by inducement or by any other fraudulent means."
Depending on the state, a penalty for those violating the law could include fines of up to 100,000 Indian Rupees (US$2,300) and prison terms of possible three years. Church groups have however complained that the terms "force" "inducement" and "fraudulent means" have not been defined properly in the states and could encourage Hindu and other religious militants to step up attack against Christians, who comprise less than three percent of the country’s mainly Hindu population of 1.1 billion people.
ANTI-CHRISTIAN VIOLENCE
The argument of "forced conversions" have been used to attack especially Christian church leaders and missionaries in several parts of India, said the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), a major advocacy group. In the latest series of attacks, two evangelists were attacked last week while conducting a worship service in Mangalawadi village in the Hassan District of Karnataka state, said GCIC, which has close contacts with the apparently persecuted Christians.
The evangelists, identified only as Sudhir and Issac and other Christians were attacked October 4 after up to 20 suspected Hindu militants barged into the prayer hall of Jnanamuni Memorial Church, GCIC explained in a statement seen by BosNewsLife.
One church visitor, Eva Sudhakaran, was rushed to hospital after "bleeding profusely," while the evangelists despite apparent injuries managed to reach police authorities. They were allegedly told by a local police official that he would not pursue the case as "he is the son of a powerful politician" and that he will try to "send the evangelists to jail" instead under controversial legislation, GCIC said. Officials could not immediately be reached for comments.
MILITANTS ATTACK PASTOR
It came after Pastor Pastor V. Paul, 30, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh was attacked while conducting a special worship service with eight believers on October 2 to observe the United Nations International Day of Non violence.
Activists of the Hindu group Bajrang Dal activists "forcefully entered the hut were the prayers were in progress shouting anti-Christian slogans and dragged the pastor out," GCIC claimed. They forced him into a Jeep and brought him to a police station in the town of Nagara where the pastor has been leading two thriving evangelical house churches, the group added. The pastor was detained in the police station for 48-hours, apparently because of his Christian activities, the GCIC said.
There have been similar attacks reported in other areas of India since September. (With reporting from India and BosNewsLife Research).
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