After declaring a marriage between a Christian man and a Hindu girl
invalid, the local administration in Jobat, Alirajpur, has refused
permission to the minority community to hold an annual gathering on the
ground that it was likely to “disturb peace”.
The four-day gathering organized by All India United Christian Front
(AIUF) and Moksha Foundation (MF) was supposed to start from Monday at
an agricultural field which is two kilometers away from Jobat town.
The town earlier saw protests by right-wing organizations after a Christian man married a Hindu girl.
The police administration had declared as invalid the marriage
between Joseph Pawar and Ayushi Wani, both major, who tied the knot at
an Arya Samaj temple in Bhopal.
The 5th Massihi Atmik Jagruti Sabha had been planned in advance but
the administration first cancelled the permission on September 30 after
Hindu organizations threatened to begin an indefinite protest from
October 1 till the couple was not traced and the woman restored to her
parents.
While denying the permission, SDM (Jobat) Sharda Chouhan in a letter
to Kapil Sharma, who is founder of MF and state head of AIUF said if the
meet was held “Wani Samaj and Hindu Sangathan(s) could commit some
cognizable offence.” The SDM quoted an input by the in-charge of the
Jobat Police Station behind the refusal.
The couple was traced and brought to Jobat on October 1, the day
Hindu organizations enforced a complete bandh but withdrew the call for
indefinite protest. Ayushi told the administration that she loved Joseph
and refused to go back to her parents. While she was sent to Nari
Niketan in Ujjain, Joseph was escorted to Indore.
Thinking that the matter had been resolved, Sharma again wrote to the
SDM seeking fresh permission for the meet. He said invites had been
sent to followers weeks in advance and it would be difficult to stop
them from coming to Jobat.
Sharma told The Indian Express that on Sunday he got a call
from the SDM to convey the administration’s decision that the permission
for the meet remained cancelled because the atmosphere was still
charged.
Chouhan informed that the ‘mahaul’ was not conducive for the
gathering of Christians and that the permission had been denied because
it could have become a law and order issue. “What if something goes
wrong? Then we will be blamed for having allowed the meet to take place”
she said adding tempers were still running high. She said the venue
(agriculture field) suggested the meet was planned at a larger scale.
Sharma said that he would challenge the denial of permission in a
court of law because the minority community’s constitutional right was
being violated.
Fr Anand Muttungal of Isai Mahasangh slammed the Alirajpur
administration saying security concern was an excuse. “How could
permission be refused for a peaceful meet that could have taken place
inside a church,” he asked dubbing the cancellation as “deliberate”.
Refusing the allegation by right-wing organizations that people are
converted during the annual meet, Sharma’s letter to the SDM said “no
one has been converted in the last four meets and no one will be
converted in future.”
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