India’s Supreme Court ordered the federal government to clarify its position on extending affirmative action benefits to Dalit converts to Christianity. However the government, which was supposed to give its view on the issue, asked for more time saying it was now awaiting comment from the National Commission for Scheduled Castes or Dalits.
The setback for Dalits, seen as the ‘lowest caste’ in India’s ancient tradition of Hinduism came amid concerns about ongoing attacks by suspected Hindu militants. In one of the latest incidents, a dozen masked men wielding cricket stumps and clubs reportedly entered the grounds of a Catholic religious community in Satna district of India’s Madhya Pradesh state on July 18, injuring four people.
Elsewhere in the eastern state of Bihar, suspected Hindu militants attacked a Catholic priest with a sharp weapon on July 17 in his house in West Champaran district, said Christian news agency Compass Direct News.
HOUSES DEMOLIHED
Earlier Hindu militants reportedly demolished the house of a 51-year-old Dalit pastor, Paul Chinnaswamy, on July 16 in Dharmapuri district of the southern state of Tamil Nadu. “
Extremists threw out the independent pastor and his four family members and damaged his humble house in Hosur area of Dharmapuri district,” said Sajan K. George, who heads the advocacy group Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) in published remarks. In Maharashtra state the same day Hindu extremists also demolished the house of Christian convert Arjun Pashi, 38, the in Nursery Baugh are of Thane district, said Compass Direct News. Christian rights investigators reportedly visited the scene and agreed to rebuild Pashi’s house within a week.
These were no isolated incidents. In the state of Andhra Pradesh five "Hindu extremists" on July 16 attacked a pastor and his associate and filed a police complaint against them for "forcible" conversion in Hyderabad, capital of Andhra Pradesh, GCIC’s George, was quoted as saying.
The Christians, identified only as Pastor Isaac and Yedbez from Bethel Church were allegedly attacked and slightly injured while returning from a believer’s house near the town of Hyderabad.
MORE ATTACKS
In other recent incidents reported by Compass Direct News:
–Villagers allegedly instigated by the Bajrang Dal, youth wing of the Hindu extremist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) group disrupted the screening of a film based on the life of Jesus Christ and threatened the organizers on July 15 in Bahera village of the Detalath area of Madhya Pradesh state.
–A police sub-inspector in Haveri district of Karnataka state on July 15 reportedly beat Pastor Ravi Benjamin and an evangelist identified only as 23-year-old Vijay of Spirit Filled Church of Tadas village, Shiggaon Taluk because of their evangelical activities.
–Hindu militants allegedly belonging to the Dharma Sena or ‘Army of Religion’ attacked three evangelists from the Christian United Prayer Band Church on July 14 in Dohania village in Madhya Pradesh state.
–Hindu militants allegedly belonging to the Bajrang Dal group on July 13 reportedly threatened Pastor Calvin Jeffrey Vedarathna, 34, of Holy Mountain Prayer Ministry, in Bhadravati Taluka of the Shimoga district of Karnataka state, saying he should stop his ministry.
–Hindu extremists allegedly of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) group, accompanied by Andhra Pradesh police personnel in Kanipackam – beat 50-year-old Pastor Swaminathan Devakumar on July 5, reported Compass Direct News, citing the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC).
–Over 50 Hindu militants also reportedly beat members of a missionary team of Seventh Day Adventists on July 5 in the Sira area of Karnataka state’s Tumkur district, injuring at least four of them.
Human right groups have linked the reported attacks to concern among Hindu groups about the spread of Christianity among especially impoverished people in rural areas. Christians comprise less than three percent of the roughly 1.1 billion people in India. (With reports from India).
