HYDERABAD, India (Morning Star
News) – Police in Jharkhand, India refused to register a complaint about
an attack that sent Christians to the hospital for treatment, while
officers in another area falsely accused the victims’ relatives in an
assault that left a woman unconscious, sources said.
A mob of
about 400 animists of the tribal Sarna religion tore down parts of a
church building under construction in Budhakaman village, West Singhbhum
District of Jharkhand state, on May 10 and attacked Christians at the
site, according to Suman Sinku, wife of the church pastor.
“They
abused the Christians present there in extremely derogatory language,”
Sinku told Morning Star News. “They held Suraj Chatomba and punched his
jaws and back. The assailants then knocked another Christian, Muni
Chatomba, to the ground and kicked her on her face and upper body.”
Another
Christian woman, Bijayanthi Chatomba, ran over to rescue her but was
struck in the nose with enough force for it to bleed, Sinku said.
“The
mob forcefully held a female Christian, stripped off her clothes
including her inner garments, leaving her half-naked, and continued
punching her face,” Sinku told Morning Star News. “They thumped
Shiromani Chatomba’s chest.”
Christians phoned police about the
attack, which began shortly after 11 a.m., and officers showed up at
about 2:30 p.m. and dispersed the mob, she said.
Village elders
had summoned Christians to a meeting at 7 a.m. to question them about
construction of the church building, but church members waited for three
hours and no officials showed up, Sinku said. After the Christians had
returned home, a mob formed at the meeting venue, ignoring social
distancing norms to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, and then
went to the church site to attack, she said.
The next morning, May
11, Sinku and others accompanied the injured Christians to the
Jagannathpur police station, where officers refused to register cases
against the assailants, she said.
“Police insisted that the
villagers also must be allowed to share their grievances before deciding
if cases must be registered against them,” she told Morning Star News.
“We waited for the village elders, but nobody turned up.”
At last one Sarna representative showed up carrying his child in his arms, she said.
“The
station house officer kept delaying the matter, so I had reminded him
that as a law- abiding officer he must accept the victims’ complaint and
must ensure that necessary action is taken against the assailants,”
Sinku said. “But he tried to suppress the matter, and his driver
harassed the victims mentally, abusing them in filthy language.”
Upon
receiving information about the attack from Pastor Sudarshan Sinku and
his wife, the Jharkhand Legal Aid Cell coordinator for Alliance Defending Freedom India,
Sandeep Tigga Oraon, helped the injured Christians send a complaint to
the West Singhbhum District Superintendent of Police, she said.
The
village elders told the Christians to show certificates as evidence
they had renounced the Sarna religion and had accepted Christianity,
Sinku said. Village chiefs in the area assume arbitrary powers to deny
tribal benefits to people who have left the traditional tribal
religions, a source who requested anonymity said.
“There have been
instances where the village chief refused to enroll the Christians
converted from indigenous groups as members of the village,” the source
said. “He would deny them residential and tribal status, making it
difficult for them to apply for government subsidies, benefits for
lower-income groups and also for higher education.”
Area village
chiefs also send young adults to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)
training sessions to develop a Hindu nationalist mindset to oppose
Christian and Muslim minorities, he added.
On May 31, the tribal
animists returned and set the church building cross on fire, and police
later summoned both parties to the police station, Sinku said. Village
chief Vignesh Tiriya again told the Christians to produce certificates
to prove their Christian faith, she said.
“At the police station, I
once again questioned the police if they were aware about the
constitutional provisions for religious freedom and the special
provisions for Scheduled Tribes,” Sinku said. “The inspector seemed
clearly annoyed, asked me to leave the room where the discussion was
going on and attempted to effect a compromise without listening to the
Christians’ pleas.”
Morning Star News tried to reach the police inspector of Jagannathpur police station, but officers there were unavailable.
False Charges
Also
in Jharkhand state, relatives of a woman beaten unconscious for
refusing to renounce Christ learned on May 31 that police had falsely
accused Christian family members in order to protect Hindu extremist
assailants, they said.
Hindu extremists had stormed into the home
of the Christian woman, 23-year-old Reena Kumari, took her outside and
pressured her to renounce Christ, relatives said. The six upper-caste
Hindus attacked Kumari in Bichagara village, Khunti District, on April
16, her mother Phulmani Devi said.
“They were after her that night
tormenting her, ‘Will you leave Christian faith or not?’” the
61-year-old Devi said. “They badgered her.”
The next morning, the
six Hindu extremists intruded into the family’s home and dragged Devi,
her husband and three daughters out and presented them before the
village council, she said.
Officials demanded that Kumari sign a
document pledging to refrain from attending church services and telling
anyone about Christ, Devi said. Under immense pressure from the village
elders, she said, her daughter agreed to sign it but balked at their
subsequent demand that her parents and family also had to sign, she
said.
“My daughter told them that she had signed it and that
should be enough, and that they must not force our family to sign it,”
Devi told Morning Star News. “They went on to angrily hold her by her
hair and punched her on her back and head.”
Reena Kumari’s brother, Suraj Kerketta, also witnessed the assault.
“They
beat up my sister very badly, so that she fell unconscious,” Kerketta
told Morning Star News. “We took her home, and in a short while we found
that she suffered severe blows and must be taken to the hospital.”
A
relative took Kerketta to the police station to file a complaint
against the assailants, but an officer there said he was writing too
slowly, snatched the paper from him and began writing it, he said.
“I
dropped out of school to earn a livelihood from daily wages and support
my parents,” Kerketta said. “I had no time to argue with the officer,
as my sister was growing very weak. I rushed out of the police station
to drop my sister at government hospital. Doctors told us that she had
suffered internal injuries. A CAT-scan was done on her, but the medical
staff refused to show the reports. They told us that they would only
submit in the court directly.”
Kumari was hospitalized until May 28 and is still unwell, Devi said.
“Her
head aches if she talks for a few minutes,” she said. “She also is
unable to chew food, I am feeding her semi-solid food. She is fainting
every now and then. We don’t know anything about her health. The doctors
have not shared anything with us.”
On May 31, Devi and Kerketta
went to the Khunti District Court as the case they had filed had come up
before a judge. They were forbidden from passing through the court
gates due to coronavirus restrictions, Devi said, but they noticed that
police had made false accusations in their report.
“The police had
noted names of our relatives who were actually helping us rescue our
daughter from beatings as the accused in the case,” Devi told Morning
Star News. “The next hearing is on June 15. We are hoping to bring this
to the notice of the judge that the police wrongfully framed our
relatives also in this case.”
Police at the Karra station were not available for comment.
The
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on April 28 urged
the U.S. State Department to add India as a “Country of Particular
Concern” to its list of nations with poor records of protecting
religious freedom.
India is ranked 10th on Christian
support organization Open Doors’ 2020 World Watch List of the countries
where it is most difficult to be a Christian. The country was 31st in
2013, but its position has worsened since Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya
Janata Party came to power in 2014.
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