The official, who was only identified as Mrs. Williams, was taken into custody by local police at her Christian Mission Compound Hospital in the city of Ratlam, 230 kilometers (140 miles) west of the state capital Bhopal, said Sajan George, the president of advocacy group Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC). A hospital sweeper and two doctors were also taken into custody for questioning, news reports said later Sunday, February 18.
GCIC investigators accused Hindu militants of involvement in the arrest of Williams. George told BosNewsLife that at least one sympathizer of radical Hinduism tried to persuade patients of wrongdoing at the hospital.
"He created a scene by calling the media and telling them that there was female infanticide taking place in the hospital. The media called authorities and they dug the ground near the hospital where they found infant’s bones," George claimed.
BURRIED BABIES
It was unclear how many bodies of infants were discovered, but police said they recovered 390 pieces of bones of newly born babies or fetuses buried behind the Christian missionary hospital, some wrapped in plastic bags
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This weekend’s discovery came as the Indian government reportedly unveiled plans to set up a series of "orphanages" to tackle the growing problem of unwanted baby girls. The government on Sunday, February 18, said it was planning a "cradle scheme" to adopt girl children to check female infanticide. "We want to put a cradle…in every district headquarters," Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Chowdhury was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency. "If you don’t want a girl child, leave her to us."
The number of girls per 1,000 boys declined from 945 to 927 between 1991 and 2001 and many districts in the country routinely report only 800 girls born for every 1,000 boys, according to estimates.
"The question of female foeticide and infanticide is part of our investigation, as is illegal abortions," Satish Saxena, superintendent of the local police, told reporters. The bones were sent to a forensic laboratory in Bhopal for testing, officials said.
MILITANT GROUPS
The discovery in Ratlam came weeks after federal police started investigating the gruesome killings of about 20 children and women in the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh, Reuters news agency reported. A businessman and his domestic servant were arrested in that case.
George suggested however there were indications that Sunday’s detentions came after militant Hindu groups Bajrang Dal and Dharam Sena were involved in spreading "false" accusations against Christian doctors. "As I came to know Christian doctors might have not been involved in this. But there was an another non-Christian doctor working there [who may have been involved]."
The mission Hospital was established in the year 1903. In a letter to supporters, GCIC urged for "prayers that the truth may come out." George said Williams’ detention seems part of a wider Hindu crackdown on Christian-led institutions.
"One year ago on a similar charges the radical government in [the town of] Kota [in the state of] Rajasthan tried to shut down the Emmanuel mission group," he recalled. "Its leaders, Archbishop M.A. Thomas and [his son] Samuel Thomas were arrested."
TIMING QUESTIONED
He said, the timing [of the latest detention] and the pattern shows "that the radicals are trying to discredit well established Christian institutions."
In addition, after "severe attacks" against Christians, Hindu militants "have started targeting [other] Christian institutions. In the last two months five different schools and two hospitals run by Christians were targeted with malfide intentions," George explained.
Sunday’s detentions of Williams and co-workers also came amid fresh reports of other attacks against Christians in Madhya Pradesh and elsewhere in India. On February 8 an angry mob of suspected Hindu militants reportedly assaulted Father George Thoppil, Principal of St. Thomas Higher Secondary School in the area of Ujjain. They were said to have slapped Thoppil and shouted obscenities against Christianity. They also broke office windowpanes, furniture and computers and ransacked the residential quarters of the priest where they smashed a statue of Mary, Christians said.
The violence was apparently prompted by the death of two kindergarten children who died after a speeding truck struck them as they rode on their uncle’s motorbike near the school. Indian Christian leaders said Hindu militants used the incident to attack Christians in the state. Nine people were reportedly detained.
CHRISTIANS EXPELLED
Elsewhere in Haryana state a village chief and a police official on February 13 forced workers of a Christian center in Prem Nagar in Hisar district, to move out of the area, Compass Direct News agency said. Mission group Gospel for Asia, which ran the Bridge of Hope center, said in published remarks that authorities forced the Christians to vacate the house and that they put a lock on the gate and took away the keys. About 100 underprivileged children received tuition assistance and one meal a day at the center. The closure apparently came after Hindu activists accused the center workers of luring children to Christianity.
But there was more anti-Christian violence reported this month. A group of Hindu militants from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on February 10 were said to have damaged the unfinished construction of Philadelphia Church in the village of Navapur Taluka in Maharashtra state.
The small tribal congregation of 45 mostly poor people had been gathering for prayer and worship in the house of local Pastor Dinesh Sudam Valvi for two years, and construction of the new church had begun in January after permits were granted, news reports said. Seven suspects were apparently arrested.
In the state of Andhra Pradesh Hindu militants also planned actions against Christians preaching the Gospel to non believers, saying they would resist "religious conversion of Hindus" and pledged to "reconvert" those who converted to Christianity during a large gathering at the Sri Ayyappa temple in the Kakinada area. Christian missionaries would also be targeted.
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
Jharkhand state also saw tensions. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked authorities of the West Singhbhum district to submit a report on villagers’ alleged assault on a tribal Christian family in Kasira, Compass Direct News agency reported.
In the state of Uttarakhand meanwhile the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has reportedly said it would bring an anti-conversion law if it is voted to power in February 21 assembly elections. Anti-conversion laws are in force in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa, while they are awaiting implementation in Arunachal Pradesh and Gujarat states.
Christians comprise less than three percent of India’s predominantly Hindu population of 1.1 billion, but Hindu groups have expressed concerns about what they see as the spread of Christianity in especially rural areas of the country. (With BosNewsife reporting and additional reports from India. bosnewslife.com).
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