[sacw] India: citizens report on Attack on Christains by RSS thugs

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web - Dispatch #2
5 June 2000
____________________________

EKTA

(Committee for Communal Amity)
--------

Campaign and Advocacy for Human Rights
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Centre for Study of Society and Secularism

Report of the Citizens Committee Investigation of the attack on Girls
Hostel at Abhona in Nasik district on 9th May, 2000.

Mumbai, 2nd June, 2000

Summary of the report

On 9th May at 8.30 P.M., in Abhona village of Nasik, while a small
congregation of Christians was watching a film 'Jesus Christ' a group of
youth came charging in with the slogans of Jai Bajrang Bali, Jai Shivaji
and Hindu Dharma Sanatan Dharma. They broke the tube lights, beat up
whosoever they could catch hold of, in the process injuring three people
including a women, burnt the mattresses, three motor cycles and the screen
on which film was being shown. While most of the media reported it in this
manner, a section of media projected as if it was an intra-group rivalry in
which those watching the film themselves did this act. Mr. Munde the
ex-Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra said that this is a local response
to the forced conversions by the missionaries. He also said that the land
is illegal, the construction is illegal and electricity is being stolen
without any payment.

To understand the incident properly EKTA along with Campiagn and Advocay
for Human Rights and Center for study of Society and Secularism constituted
a citizens inquiry team to investigate the incident.

The committee visited Nasik and the Abhona village twice and met the
victims of the incident, the boys who were apprehended, their parents, the
local pastor, the police officials and leaders of different political
parties and talked to VHP leader on phone.

=46indings:

Abhona is a small village with the population of close to 6 7 thousands.
This is a fairly prosperous village situated close to Dangs in Gujarat,
with no Christians in the village. It has trade as the major activity. The
place of attack is a girls hostel (Age5-12) belonging to all the religions.
It is half constructed at the moment. The land transfer and the
construction formalities are proper as per the documents. On the fateful
evening an all Christian congregation was watching the film 'Jesus Christ;
when the crowd of youth descended on the site and rampaged the place. The
women , Rajani Ashok Budha, who incurred the severe injury also heard after
sometime some boys shouting "Vinya, enough, lets go". Two other men were
also injured in the attack. The boys who were arrested and later released
told us that they came to know that the film showed clips which were
insulting to Hindu Gods. None of them said that they saw the film. Also
this charge was repeated by most of the political leaders of BJP, VHP, Shiv
Sena and surprisingly none of them had seen the film. The boys and the same
leaders also said that the missionaries are indulging in forced conversions
while none of them could cite a single case of forced conversions. Some
people in the village said that Vineet Mahajan was leader of the youth and
that he belonged to RSS. Also Shiv Sena leader did tell us Vineet had RSS,
VHP literature with him.

Mr. Jagganath Pawar who sold the land to the 'Love in Action Group' did so
by choice thwarting the pressure from A.T.Pawar (Minister)to sell the land
to him for petrol pump. He gave us copies of all the papers. The pastors
belonging to different groups told us that in Nasik in last 10 years there
might have been close to 350 conversions, but not by force. Also only few
of them go for preaching to others while most of them concentrate in the
routine intra-community activities.

The committee concludes that it is one more in the series of Anti-Christian
attacks which are going all over the country. In this case the youth had
been instigated on the rumors that the anti-Hindu clippings are being shown
and that Christian missionaries are indulging in forced conversions. Both
these are false propaganda. The links of leader of the youth with the RSS
though nebulous are very clear. Now to distract the attention from the real
episode the question of legality of land, construction and electricity is
being raised as a deliberate move.

Report of The Citizen's Inquiry Committee for the investigation on Attack
on the Girls Hostel At Abhona, Nasik District

On 9th May at around 8.30 P.M. 100 youth in the age group of 18-23 attacked
the congregation of the people who were watching a film on the life of
Jesus Christ. Most of the media, based on their investigation reported that
this was one more of the attacks, which are going on against the Christian
community. But the a section of papers reported a different version. One of
these versions was also presented by the ex-Deputy Chief Minister of
Maharashtra Mr. Gopinath Munde, who visited the village, and went on to say
that the attack had nothing to do with the VHP or Bajarang Dal and that
this was a case of mere intra group rivalry, that the land on which the
hostel has been built is illegally possed by the Christian group, that the
construction is illegal, that the electricity used there was a theft, that
the film which was being shown was offensive to the sentiments of Hindus
and that the arrest of youth for was unwarrented.

In this context to unravel the truth EKTA (Committee for Communal Amity)
constituted a citizens committee to go into all the aspects of the event
and to particularly examine the following points:
1. Whether any political or quasi-political group instigated the
attack on the Christians?
2. Whether the police action in arresting the youth was unwarranted or
was adequate?
3. Whether forcible conversions are going on in Abhona and the nearby
places as alleged by Mr.Munde.
4. Whether the land, construction and electric connections are illegal.

The following team was constituted

1. Masood Pesh Imam- Editor, The New Break, Kalyan
2. Maria Doss- Campaign for Human Rights and Advocacy)
3. Ankush Bhoge- Build
4. Asad Bin Saif- Centre for Study of Society and Secularism
5. Ram Puniyani- EKTA( Committee for Communal Amity), Convener

Members of the committee visited Nasik town and Abhona village twice, first
on 13th and 14th and then on 24th and 25th of May. The members also visited
Vani police station. They met the Dy. SP, local Bishop and pastors, the
victims of the attack, the leaders of BJP, NCP, Shiv Sena and the Congress.
They talked to VHP leader on phone and also attended the meeting of the
local Christian community, which was convened to discuss the attack on the
Christian congregation.

=46indings

1. Abhona is a small village with a population of around 6-7 thousand
people. It is the central place in that area, it is the prime center of
trade and commerce and large number of the residents are engaged in trade.
It appears very prosperous because the area has well-tilled land and the
water is available in plenty, which is utilized for sowing Sugarcane,
Onions and Chillies which are sent to factories for the extraction of the
sugar and other two are sent in the larger towns. River Tapi flows from
outside of the village towards the Dang District of Gujarat which is hardly
30 kilometers away from there. The constituency has been declared as
reserved because of its tribal domination. There are no Christians in the
village. The place of attack is located nearly =87 kilometers from the cente=
r
of the village. There is only one house opposite the site and there is no
resident in the stretch of land between the center of the village and the
place of attack.

2. The place of attack is a plot of land where the construction of the
hostel for girls between the age group of 5-12 is half-complete. The ground
floor work is complete with 4 dormitory type rooms and the toilets and
baths. When we visited the site the first thing, which struck us was the
remains of the fire near the building and the pieces of glass scattered
around the empty 15x9 (Approximate) area.

3. The SRP personnel were occupying the building. We wanted to talk to
them but they directed us to PSI Shirsat and Dy SP Shekhar for the police
version of the incident. Then we talked to the Pastor's (Rev. Padley)
staff on the site. Ashar Bhika Ingale gave us the detailed version of the
incident. He showed us the 7/12-land document in the name of Rev. Padley
and also the architect's papers, which were duly cleared by the local
authorities (Annexures1,2). He said that Rev. Padley's 'Love in Action'
group has been running a girls hostel from last around 10 years in rented
premises. This place has been recently constructed and now they have been
lodging the girls here. The hostel has girls from all the communities. The
charges of the Hostel are nominal and quite affordable by even the poor
people.

4. The function, which was in progress, was organised by "The
Evangelical Allaince Christian Church". This was their 45th annual function
for there devotees in different places of Nasik town. The function was from
8th May to 11th May, and was attended b around 70- 100people.Mostly they
have devotional programs and community interaction. All those attending are
the followers of some or the other Church in the area. On that fateful
night also it was the gathering of the believers of Christ, around 70 of
them, most of them being women. It was 2nd day of the function and the
congregation was watching the film on the life of Jesus Christ. This film
has been shown on D.D. some time ago. A projector was being used. During
the screening of film 4 youth came and sat for some time. Then they left
and shortly a motor cyclist came and halted outside the compound and made
lot of noise by raising the accelerator of his vehicle. Soon he left and a
big group of youth came shouting Jai Bhavani, Jai Shivaji, Jai Hanuman and
Hindu Dharma-Sanatan Dharma. When they came the projector was on and they
were changing the film from part 2 to part3.

5. The youth first broke the tube lights due to which it became dark
all over. Then they pulled down the screen, collected some mattresses and
put them on fire along with the pandal. The other items put in the fire
were the film projector and some chairs. Meanwhile they attacked the mobile
van (belonging to Grammin Pustak Vitrak Sanstha), that had come there to
sell the books etc. Immediately Ingale(The supervisor on site) rang up the
police. Police arrived after =87 an hour. In the attack Rajani Ashok Budha
was seriously injured and had to be hospitalised. Two other men also got
injured -Jonathan Chavan, and Ambadas Chowdhary. As soon as attack began
most of the people started running helter skelter mainly towards the hills.
The youth also ran away in no time, much before the police could arrive.

6. We met two of the victims of the attack Rajani Ashok Budha and
Jonathan Chavan. Mrs Budha said that she riased her hands to protect her
child who was sleeping, and was hurt by a sharp object flung by one of the
youth. She got a cut, which required six stitches. Mr. Jonathan Chavan got
the lathi and fist blows along with two other men. Both Mrs Budha and Mr.
Chavan herd the shouts of the attackers. Later when the process went on for
sometime some of them shouted in Marathi to the effect, "Vinya, enough,
lets run away." During this time Mrs. Budha took shelter in a room and
locked herself inside along with her children. Many a people ran towards
the hill and returned only when the police arrived.
7. We went to Vani police station to meet Mr. Shekhar, the Dy SP. He
incidentally refuted the charge made by local BJP leaders that the boys
were denied to appear in the exams. As per him only one of them was to
appear in the exam for which he was escorted and he did appear in the exam.
About other information he directed us to meet the SP Mr. B. More, in
Nasik. We did go to his office where one Mr. Khairnar a PI told us that Mr.
More may be available after one hour. He gave us a phone number to contact
him for the necessary appointment. We kept ringing the number but without
any response. During our second visit we again approached him but it was
told that he is away and no body else is authorised to give the version to
citizens or the press.

8. We attended the meeting of local Christian community called by the
Bishop. Over 100 men and women attended this. They were disturbed but calm.
The Bishop pointed out the clear correlation between the rising
anti-Christian campaign unleashed by parties like BJP, Shiv Sena and their
affiliates like VHP and Bajarang Dal, and this incidence is also one of
those. He demanded a ban on organisations affiliated to Sangh Parivar. In
the meeting there were many who had some more information to offer. One of
them told us about a recent incidence in Peth in which the police complaint
was not registered in one of the road accident case in which the Shiv
Sainiks beat up the motor cyclist.

9. In our visit to the village we could meet

a. The youth who were arrested by the police. The arrests had occurred
late in the night. The youth Ashok Madhukar Jangam (age 24), a FY, B.A.
student, Deepak Amarsingh Age(19) a clerk in a society both denied
involvement in any attack and said they do not know anything about the
episode. But they did say that a film, which insulted the feelings of
Hindus, was being shown. This version was to repeat regularly with all the
leaders of VHP, BJP, And Shiv Sena. But they all denied having seen any
such film and their versions were based on hearsay.

b. We met Vineet Mahajan, whom one of the villagers (who wanted not to
be quoted) called as leader of the youth and that he belonged to RSS.
Vineet (Vinya) was looking very jubilant and triumphant, he denied any
knowledge or involvement with the episode. The parents of boys were also
present during our interviews but they also showed any ignorance of the
episode.

c. The local Shiv Sena Pramukh Mr. Aher Karbhari and Abhona Shiv Sena
Chief Mr. Suneel Karavande were present during the interviews. Apart from
repeating the usual hearsay and charges against the conversions they did
point out that Vineet Mahajan had the RSS/VHP literature in his pocket.
Another source later told us that not only Vineet is a part of RSS/ VHP but
also that he has been trained in the OTC (Officers training Camp of RSS).
It was also pointed out that Vineet who is regarded as leader of the youth
has been in Nasik for a long time and had come back to Abhona after few
months.

10. Eknath Shete of VHP repeated the charges against Christian
missionaries and said that youth accidentally discovered the humiliation
of Hindu Gods in the film being shown by the congregation and must have got
infuriated to take such a step. Again he could not name anybody who had
seen the film. Adv. Jayshree Dhond (BJP nasik District President) also had
not seen the film neither could she cite any concrete example of 'forced
conversion' but was vociferous in her condemnation of the conversion
activities of Christian missionaries. Her assertion was that her party does
not mind the social work by the Christians but they are opposed to their
missionary work. One Dr. Gangurde, BJP's LokSabha candidate from Malegaon
in the last elections happened to be in the office, and he had visited
Abhona a day before. As per him some of those in the congregation objected
to the humiliation of Hindu Gods in the film and so the whole process
followed. Both of them could not cite any single case of forced conversion
while vociferously condemning the missionaries for it most of the time.

11. Mr. Shivnath Khadbhani, NCP President of Nepad Talika, Nasik
District on strongly refuted the charge that forced conversions are going
on in the area.

12. 12.Reverand Martin Pakhare, Rev. Padley, and Rev. Arun Shinde gave
us the rough figures of conversions in the area in last 10 years. In whole
of Nasik district this figure does not exceed around 350. Most of the
people who came in for conversion came, out of their own conviction. Few of
these groups also preach, distribute literature about Christianity and do
the group singing in public places, but they maintained that the charge
'forced conversion' is nothing but a way of defaming them. They felt that
Mr. Munde has intimidated the police department because of which despite
the serious charges against the boys, they have been released on bail. The
pastors gave us the copies of all the papers proving the legality of the
a. Land
b. Construction
c. Applications for the light connection-, which incidentally has been
held up due to, corrupt practices of the concerned office. From their side
they have deposited the necessary money for electric connection(Quotation,
test report, advance)
(Annexure 3)

We also met Jaggannath Chinthu Pawar who had sold the land to the Church.
He pointed out that he had bought the land from one Joshi in 1970. Also
that he was approached by the current Minister Mr. A.T. Pawar for buying
the same land for his petrol pump, but he refused. He preferred to sell it
to a social cause like the Church which wanted to buy it for building a
hostel. Incidentally Mr. Pawar's son is married to a Christian doctor girl
and the doctor couple on the insistence from Mr. Pawar have opened the
hospital in the village against their own wish to open the same in the
city. Now we understand from newspaper reports that the Shiv Sena-BJP
dominated Gram Panchayat is demanding the return of the hostel land and
also pressurizing the Doctor couple to close their hospital.

Disturbed by the dastardly attack the local Christian community took out a
peaceful procession and demanded the
a. Justice and protection to Christian community
b. Arrest of Mr. Munde for his appreciation of the criminals who
attacked the hostel and for the intimidation of police inspector and others
on the spot.
c. Resignation of Mr. A.T.Pawar for his felicitation of the attackers.
Leaders of BJP, Shiv Sena, VHP and Mr. A.T. Pawar (NCP minister in the
coalition govt.) celebrated the release of boys from the jail.

13. We met the Congress (I) president (Mr.Uttam Rao Kamble) who said
that the members of Sangh Parivar to intimidate and persecute the Christian
community are raising the bogey of conversions. He also felt that since the
boys were involved and arrested under serious charges it is not proper to
release them under the pressure from Mr. Munde. Mr. Niranajn Takle of Human
Rights Dept. of Congress (I) was very bitter about the violation of the
Human rights of Minorities. He informed the committee that there was RSS
meeting in Nasik few months ago (Oct.99). As per him it is not a coincident
that this attack has occurred after the meeting organized by RSS an Nasik
and just before the BJP state convention in Nasik. He also felt that these
cases need to be followed up properly.

Conclusions:

1.There are no forced conversions in the area. As such also the number of
conversions is negligible. But all the same there are strong rumors about
the same. When confronted with the request for the concrete name and
instances there is silence on the part of the accusers, who are making such
baseless propaganda for the political purpose, in consonance with the
present agenda of Sangh Parivar.

2.The attack on the girl's hostel in Abhona was well-planned one and not a
spontaneous outburst of anger.
The village youth were instigated by spreading the rumor of insult of Hindu
gods in the film being shown in the congregation.
3.It was an internal congregation and not meant to propagate to others. The
film being shown was Jesus Christ, which does not have any offensive
reference to Hindu Gods. This film has been shown on D.D. channel also.
4.Lot of rumours against the Christian missionaries are being spread
deliberately. In most of the cases the spreader and believers of these
rumors cannot cite any concrete evidence of their charge.

5.The attack followed the 'classical' pattern, which by now has been
perfected by Sangh Parivar. Some volunteers are trained, indoctrinated and
let loose to unleash the work of intimidation of the minorities. Since most
of these crimes go unpunished, it is not difficult to mobilise the other
unsuspecting youth for this work. The link between the parent organisation
-RSS, VHP and BJP etc. is deliberately kept loose so that no blame can come
on the parent organisation.

6.With many a BJP functionaries being in power they either provide a 'good'
political and administrative cover to their followers who undertake these
activities. In this case since the boys, for a change, were apprehended by
the police, the ex-deputy Chief minister and Home minister rushed to the
spot to intimidate the police authorities to ensure that minimum punishment
is accorded to the criminals.
7.To distract the attention from the real attack and the culprits, the
issue of legality of the land sale, construction and the electricity
connection is being raised. Also it is abhorrent that the young idealistic
doctor couple is being hounded from the village for the 'crime' of
inter-religion marriage. On one hand we need doctors go and work in the
villages but here communal vision is dictating the policies which need to
be condemned.
8.In case of Abhona crime Vineet Mahajan's role and his nebulous linkage to
the RSS/ VHP is very clear.
9.Incidentlly we will like to record our disappointment with the SP and the
collector's office for lack of cooperation in giving any information to us.
We feel the strong need to have a fresh look at the people's right to
information.

Recommendations:

1.General Backdrop:

The intense anti-Christian propaganda, which preceded anti Christian
violence, is based on the falsification that Christian missionaries are
using fraud and inducement to convert the gullible Adivasis. The decline in
the percentage of Christian population tells another tale while quashing
this baseless charge. As per the census of India the population of
Christians in India stands as follows- 1971- 2.6%, 1981-2.44%, 1991- 2.32
%. At a time when the Christian population is actually declining, the myth
has been popularised that conversions are on the rise. And this myth is now
being used to rouse the sentiments and emotions of average people to
generate the hatred against the Christians.
The anti Christian violence came up as a part of the SP campaign to get
bigger foothold amongst the Adivasis. It is in these remote areas that
missionaries from decades and centuries are busy with their social work.
SP's aim is to arrest the secularisation process, which is marginally
helped due to educational, and health related activities of the
missionaries. The violence, which has been cultivated, has passed through
different conveyor belts. The RSS manufactures the basic hate philosophy,
BJP provides the political cover, VHP specialises in the vehement anti
minority propaganda and Bajarang Dal takes up physical intimidation of
minorities, in this case Christians.
With most of the anti Christian crime getting exonerated by the state
machinery, ruled by BJP led coalition at center, and dominated by the
silent and violent supporters of SP at different levels the word has gone
round that one can get away after attacking Christians. So now all and
sundry lumpens and criminals of different hues and shades have discovered
the soft target in Christians.
In the light of above
Specific Recommendations

1. The guilty must be punished and the political pressure must be
condemned. This will reverse the message that Sangh Parivar and criminals
can get away with their anti- Christian violence
2. To reassure the missionaries working in the remote areas the 'hate
activities' of Sangh Parivar should be censured.
3. Citizens groups should be associated with the minorities for
solidarity and support.
4. Media should be requested to come forward to bring the truth to the
focus of the society.
5. Human rights cells should be initiated in all the city centers.
6. Human Rights commission should be given more power and resources to
investigate most of the cases of Human Rights violations. State Minority
and Human Rights commissions to be constituted on urgent basis.
7.Incidentlly we will like to record our disappointment with the SP and the
collectors office for lack of cooperation in giving any information to us.
We feel the strong need to have a fresh look at the people's right to
information.
(Acknowledgement- The Committee wishes to thank Bombay Urban League and
Industrial Development for their support for carrying out this
investigation. We also thank CSSS for the assistance in making the report
public)
______________________________________________
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