[sacw] India: ATTACKS ON MINORITY INSTITUTIONS - II

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Tue, 4 Jul 2000 23:57:49 +0100


South Asia Citizens Web - Dispatch #2
4 July 2000
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

(The below report continues from Sacw Dispatch #1 4 July 2000)
__________________________

REPORT ON ATTACKS ON MINORITY INSTITUTIONS AT KOSI-KALAN, MATHURA AND
AGRA IN MARCH- APRIL, 2000 [PART II]

BY THE JOINT STUDY TEAM

MAY, 2000. NEW DELHI.

Also, they resorted to brutal beating of the house cleaner Maria and the
sisters, which, did not seem to be necessary if robbery was the only
motive. There is no rational explanation as to why they left behind other
valuable goods such as colour television, VCR and tape recorder. The motive
of robbery also does not explain why a gang of rustic robbers should enter
the place of prayer of a convent, open the tabernacle and desecrate it.

According to Fr. Vargheese the motive seems to be to terrorize the
Principal and the staff of the school so much that they would want to wind
up the school and the Church and leave. The assailants took care to hide
their identity and motivation not only by covering their faces but also by
giving the impression that they were interested in looting the cash and
valuables. Fr. Vargheese was emphatic that instead of looking at the Kosi-
Kalan incident in isolation, we should view it as part of the sequence and
a chain of anti-Christian incidents, which have occurred in the country
over the last two to three years. in Mathura district alone this was the
third attack on Christian institutions, more specifically Catholic
educational institutions, within a fortnight and was a part of the six
attacks on the Christians within this short period in the adjacent
districts of Ghaziabad, Meerut and Agra in western UP. instead of robbery,
which may have been a cover, the real intention was to terrorize the
Christian community, not only those living in UP but also those in the
other parts of the country. Father Vergheese suddenly recalled the fact
that when the agitated mob had been dispersed on the 6th of April, 2000 in
a separate incident of attack on the nuns of another Christian Institution,
they had shouted that they would not spare the other Christian institutions
in that region.

=46r. Vargheese also suggested that the police and the administration seem t=
o
have done only lip service. The assailants got plenty of time and did not
seem to be in a hurry, hence police collusion cannot be ruled out. Even
when the police appeared to have arrived promptly on being informed of the
incident, they refused to bring the dog squad as was suggested by the
victims at St. Theresa's School. To date not a single arrest has been made.
The DIG police of UP and the DM of Mathura are repeatedly saying that the
Kosi- Kalan incident of 11th April, 2000 should be viewed as an isolated
incident of robbery and that it has no communal overtones whatsoever, leave
alone any connection with the growing trend of well planned attacks on
members and institutions belonging to the minority communities,
particularly the Christian community.

Incident at St. Dominic School, Mathura:
St Dominic School is located at Mathura cantonment near Dhauli Pyao. it has
got about 1,200 students. The incident took place on the morning of Monday
10th April 2000. A group of men walked into the office of the Principal,
=46r. Dabre, demanding admission for their children. They did not specify in
which class they wanted admission and for how many children. Neither they
knew the names of the children to be admitted nor did they give any other
particulars, said Fr. Dabre. When it was mentioned that there was no
vacancy they started abusing Father, beat him, and started throwing the
furniture all around. Sensing danger, Fr. Dabre slipped through the back
door and escaped into his room to protect himself. One of the staff members
informed the police and they arrived after the miscreants had left the
place. The principal then lodged an FIR.

Incident at Cathedral House, Agra:
The Agra Church has been there from the time of Jehanghir, the great Mughal
Emperor. it is also known as Akbar Church. But still the Christians are a
miniscule proportion of the population, 0.046 % of the total population of
the Agra region, i.e. less than one in two thousand.

The team members met Archbishop Vincent Concessao in Agra who told the
team, 'in October last 1999 the Bajrang Dal opposed the Charismatic
convention, which was organized by us, A number of people experienced
healing. The Bajrangdal raised slogans and said that the healing and
prayer are all 'bakwas'. On the second day they prevented some people
from entering the convention and misdirected many others to far away
locations.'

Apart from the serious incidents of attacks on the schools of Mathura and
Kosi-Kalan the unlawful detention in Police station of two priests from the
Cathedral Church is also needs to be condemned.

The team members were told: in the first week of July 1999 Mr. R.S Pandey
the S.H.O, Hariparvat, came to St. Peter's College for the admission of his
son. As there was a crowd waiting to see the Principal the security guard
asked him to wait for his turn. Mr. Pandey got annoyed and went away. He
retuned in the following day and straight away bashed up the security
guard.

On 8th July 1999, there was a shoot out at Sanjay Place, Agra in which a
certain Pachouri was severely hurt. in the report that appeared in the
newspapers, it was mentioned that scooter No UAC 173 was seen being driven
away from the scene. 't looked like Mr. Pandey had deliberately implicated
the Cathedral House in the case as the scooter belonged to Cathedral House.
The newspaper report clearly indicated that the scooter of the missionaries
was used for the above crime.' The Bishop further said that they were sure
that the scooter was in their premises. Later the real culprit was found
but it took two months to get back the scooter but without the key!

The Archbishop told the team that on 31st December 1999 Ms Sneha Latha
Arora, a former teacher met him with an application asking for
reinstatement in her job. She had previously been teaching from 1987 to
1992 and she abandoned the job on her own. People had said at that time
that she was mentally unfit. it is the policy of the Institution that once
a teacher abandons her employment and does not turn up for three months
with out any information or application of leave, she loses lien on the
job. She had also send complaints to higher authorities like the Joint
Director Education, Agra and the District Magistrate, who requested the
District Shiksha Adhikari, Agra to make an inquiry into the matter and the
disposal of the complaint letter of Ms Snehalata. In compliance with the
orders of the Joint Director Education and the District Magistrate, the
Shiksha Adhikari called both the parties at 11 am on 2nd February 2000.
After having heard both the parties, the Shiksha Adhikari came to the
school on 1st March and 13th March 2000, examined the records and recorded
in writing the statements of the teachers. The Shiksha Adhikari found no
base in the complaints made by Ms Snehalatha. She had also alleged that the
manager had sealed her account in the St Peter's College branch of the
Canara Bank. in this connection, the Shiksha Adhikari himself went to the
Bank, saw the ledger, and it was found that on 25th March, 2000 an amount
of Rs 10,456.00 was shown as balance in the account No. 996 in the name of
Ms Snehalatha and that she had withdrawn Rs. 500 .00 on 7th March, 2000.

The team was informed by Frs. Raphy and Vargheese that on 31st March, 2000,
two lady constables, two male constables and two S's along with Snehalatha
came to the Cathedral House, Agra at 2.30 p.m. to ask Fr. Raphy, the
manager of the School, to go to the police station to make a statement in
connection with a pending case of Snehalatha. Frs. Raphy and Vargheese went
to the Police station. As soon as they reached the police station Mr.
Pandey ordered their possessions to be taken charge of and they be put in
the lock-up. in the mean time the two priests saw from the lockup that the
said teacher, Snehalata was writing a complaint dictated by the SHO. in the
words of Fr. Raphy, 'We could see very clearly Mr Pandey, the SHO dictating
the statement to the said teacher as we were in the lock-up just opposite
to Mr. Pandey's office.'

About 45 minutes later four other priests reached the police station to
find out what had happened to the two priests. And they were shown the
written complaint of Ms Snehalatha without any mention of time and
witnesses. Meanwhile, Frs. Raphy and Vargheese were brought out of lock-up.
Then Mr. Pandey asked the Fathers to prepare a defence of Frs. Raphy,
Vargheese and Miranda, all mentioned in the complaint. Further Mr. Pandey
said that one of the priests had to remain in the police station while
others could go and prepare the case. Accordingly, Fr. Raphy remained with
=46r. Robert in the office for some time and later were asked to sit in the
visitors room. That day, the Commissioner, Ms Nita Chowdhary, was to come
for inspection of the police station. As the S.H.O did not want the
Commissioner to know about the locking up of the priests, he released them
and made them sit in the visitor's room just before the routine visit of
the Commissioner. Both Frs. Raphy and Robert stayed in the visitor's room
for about 30 minutes. Around 6.30 p.m. Mr. Pandey released them on the
condition that Fr. Raphy would come back to the police station at 8 p.m.

Later at 10 p.m. Mr. Pandey came to the Cathedral House to inquire about
=46r. Raphy's residence, telephone number etc. Ever since then almost
everyday police come and harass the inmates of Cathedral House for one or
another information.

The Bishop who came to Delhi for some official purpose was met by the team
and he further informed that on 21st April, 2000 between 9 =F110 am a team o=
f
police from Hariparvat Thana area came to 16/76 Upper Padritola, Ghatia
Azam Khan, Agra and took five men namely, Blasius, Sandeep, Denzil alias
Pawan, Robin and Ivan and forced them to give false evidence against Fr.
Vargheese who resides in the Cathedral House Agra.

Later these above mentioned men came to Fr. K.C Thomas to say that they
were given Rs.100 each and two pouches liquor and were asked to make a
statement against Fr. Vargheese. They were forced to sign without allowing
them to read or without the contents of their alleged statement being read
over to them. These men were then made to swear an affidavit to this
effect.
The Bishop further told the team, 'All these incidents have been causing a
lot of tension and anxiety among the priests and religious members of the
Christian Community in Agra. I am really concerned about the misuse of
power by an officer who is the guardian of law and order; he concocts
stories to pressurize, penalize and terrorize innocent people. I am anxious
on the re-instatement of the S.H.O Mr Pandey while the enquiries about his
misconduct are still pending.'

The study team talked with Mr. Sanjiv Mittal (DM) of Mathura to seek
certain information and clarifications. The DM met the team members
cordially and exchanged views with us. He made two important points. in his
opinion the reported incidents are isolated acts of crime and the media
from Delhi has flared it up. He believed that most of the problems in our
country is because of media.

Other recent Attacks in U.P.

March 12, 2000: Burglary in Capuchin missionaries run Media Institute of
Training and Technology (MITT) and Parish Church and Shramik Vidyapeeth
vocational training center, Suryanagar (U.P) on the Delhi - U.P border
wherein 24 computers, cash and sound system were stolen.

March 31, 2000: Attack against Capuchins run Christ Vihar Hindi Medium
School at Dasna Masuri near Ghaziabad in U.P- Fr Skylark George was beaten
up and injured and cash and valuables were stolen.

The Constitution Of India, the Universal Declaration and International
Treaties on Minority Rights:

The Constitution of India provides for pluralism. The Fundamental Rights
enshrined in the Constitution of India apply to all persons/Indian citizens
irrespective of their religion, gender, caste or race. There are certain
rights that are the fundamental rights of the minorities. Article 15(1) of
the Constitution of India states: -
Article 15 - Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race,
caste, sex, or place of birth.
The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on the grounds only of
religion, race caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.

Art 25 - Right to profess, practise and propagate a religion of ones own
choice/ conscience.

Art 29 - Protection of interest of minorities:
Any section of the citizen residing in the territory of India or any part
thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have
the right to conserve the same.

Art 30 - Right to minorities to Establish and Administer Educational
Institutions.
(1) All minorities whether based on religion or language shall have the
right to establish and administer educational institutions of their own
choice.

Apart from the protection/provisions granted to minorities under the
Constitution, India has been a signatory to the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights Approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations and to
various International Treaties.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights approved by the General Assembly
of the United Nations, Paris, 10 December 1948.

It is declared in the Preamble:
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous
acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a
world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and
freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration
of the common people.
Article 18 states:
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this
right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom,
either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to
manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and
observance.

The Declaration on the Elimination of all forms of Intolerance and
Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, G.A.res.36/55,36 U.N GAOR Supp.
(No.51) at 171, UN Doc. A/36/684 (1981).
Some of the excerpts of the declaration are:
Considering that religion or belief, for anyone who professes either, is
one of the fundamental elements in his conception of life and that freedom
of religion or belief should be fully respected and guaranteed,
Article1: -
Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion. This right shall include freedom to have a religion or whatever
belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with
others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in
worship, observance, practice and teaching.
No one shall be subject to coercion, which would impair his freedom to
have a religion or belief of his own choice.
Freedom to manifest one's religion or belief may be subject only to such
limitation as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public
safety, order, health or morals or the fundamental rights and freedom of
others.
Article 2: -
No one shall be subject to discrimination by any State, institution, group
of persons or person on the grounds of religion or their belief.

The Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic,
religious or Linguistic Minorities, G.A, res 47/ 135, annex, 47 U.N.GAOR
Supp. (No 49) at 210. U.N.Doc A/ 47/49 (1993).
Some of the relevant clauses of the declaration are:
Considering that promotion and protection of rights of persons belonging to
national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, as an integral
part of belonging to national or ethnic, religious, linguistic minorities
contribute to the political and social stability of States in which they
live.
Emphasizing that the constant promotion and realization of the rights of
persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic
minorities, as an integral part of the development of society as a whole
and within a democratic framework based on the rule of law, would
contribute to the strengthening of friendship and cooperation among peoples
and states.
Article 1: -
1.States shall protect the existence and the national or ethnic, cultural,
religious and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective
territories and shall encourage conditions for the promotion of that
identity.

Article 4: -
1. States shall take measures where required to ensure that persons
belonging to minorities may exercise fully and effectively all their human
rights and fundamental freedoms without any discrimination and in full
equality before law.
2. States shall take measures to create favourable conditions to enable
persons belonging to minorities to express their characteristics and to
develop their culture, language, religion, traditions and customs, except
where specific practices are in violation of national law and contrary to
international standards.

The International Declarations emphasise the need for the State to protect
the existence and identity of the minorities.

Conclusions:
The main findings of the team after extensive discussion and debate are
given below: -

The attacks on the Christian institutions in U.P are not isolated
incidents but are linked to each other and are a part of an organized
conspiracy.
The communal elements are bent upon spoiling the atmosphere in Western U.P
and are attempting to whip up communal passions. Wherever the people
express any grievances, the communal elements attempt to exploit the
situation.
3. The administration and police authorities have taken action after the
occurrence of the incident but by treating the incidents as ordinary
problems of law and order, the administration and police authorities seem
to be lacking perspective. The attack on St. Theresa's School, in
Kosi-Kalan was a part of this conspiracy, the target of the attack was the
School principal and the motive was not robbery. Therefore, the culprits of
Kosi-Kalan have not been identified or arrested till date and the S.H.O of
Hari Parvat police station in Agra has been brought back to his original
posting at Hari Parvat police station at the intervention of Bajrang Dal
and other communal organizations.
4. The Bajrang Dal and other communal organizations built up a campaign to
bring back S.H.O Pande and made provocative statements in the vernacular
press to malign the Christian institutions. All this points to their
sinister designs.
5. All the incidents took place within a span of 12 days and the schools
which were targeted had been operating in the concerned areas for a period
ranging from 12 years to 42 years and they had never been involved in
incident prior to the said incidents, also points to diabolic designs.
6. The manner in which the community which constitutes less than 0.05% in
Western U.P is being targeted and a venomous atmosphere is being created
manifests sinister designs. 't is more than likely to vitiate the entire
atmosphere of the region and can lead to a more severe attack on the
minority Christian Community and its institutions thus bringing severe harm
to the secular credentials of the Indian State.
Upon our visit we found that the sisters, priests and other staff of the
institutions at Mathura, Kosi-Kalan and Agra, were very much worried about
their safety and well being. We found that they were still under shock and
trauma.
There is a tremendous amount of fear, insecurity and apprehension in the
minds and hearts of the Christian population, and they feel harassed,
victimized and threatened.

Recommendations:
1. The Central and State Governments should express their willingness to
protect the minority Christian community not only in words but also in
action.
2. As a first step the administration and police authorities should not
consider the attacks on the above-mentioned institutions as isolated
incidents and problems of law and order alone but should recognize them as
part of a communal attack and take remedial measures accordingly.
3. The minority institutions in the affected areas should be provided with
police protection and strict orders be issued to the administration that
recurrence of such incidents would not be tolerated.
4. The State and the Central governments should recognize the fact that a
substantial section of the bureaucracy has been affected by the 'communal
virus' and such section of the bureaucracy be screened and remedial
measures be taken. The impartiality and secular character of the State
should be visible in the acts of its employees.
5. The State and Central governments should take confidence-building
measures to instill confidence into the minority Christian community.
Special intelligence and criminal investigation teams be constituted to
investigate into the above-mentioned incidents and the culprits be arrested
and prosecuted according to the law of the land.
6.The Central and State governments should send out a clear message to the
communal elements that are attempting to vitiate the atmosphere that any
attempt to tear the secular fabric and spreading of communal canards will
not be tolerated.
7. The attacks on Christian minority institutions should be treated as acts
of discrimination by group of persons or person on the grounds of religion
as enshrined in Articles 2 of the U.N Declaration on elimination of all
forms of intolerance and of Discrimination based on religion and belief
(1981) as well as violation of Article 1 (2) which states that no one shall
be subject to coercion which could impair his freedom to have a religion of
his choice.
8. The State should take measures in accordance with Articles 1 and 4 of
the UN Declaration on the Rights of persons belonging to National, or
Ethnic, Religious or Linguistic Minorities (1993) so as to enable the
minority communities to fully and effectively exercise their human rights
and fundamental freedoms without any discrimination.

New Delhi
Dated: 16th May 2000

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