The number of attacks against Christians and institutions run by the community have been rising ever since Karnataka has proposed to introduce an anti-conversion Bill in the Assembly. According to the Association for Protection of Civil Liberties, Karnataka has the third highest number of attacks against Christians after Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
In the last few months, there have been 33 attacks on churches and Christian prayer halls – in Belagavi, Belur, Chitradurga, Hubballi and Mengaluru areas ~ even though the Constitution gives every citizen the right to practice and propagate one’s faith. Banning conversion will take away the freedom of the
downtrodden and marginalised communities.
Conversion is not a threat. In fact, the number of Christians in the State has come down, the census figures show. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has announced that a Bill to prohibit “forced conversions” in the State would be passed during the winter session of the Assembly scheduled to begin on 13 December.
Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said the draft Bill was ready and the government is keen on passing it in the coming 10-day session. The BJP’s Hosadurga MLA Gulihatti Shekhar, prime mover of the anti-conversion Bill, had claimed that in his constituency 48 families from two villages, Maruti Nagar and Devapura, were forcibly converted to Christianity.
An official team led by tahsildar Y Thipeswamy visited the two villages and contacted 34 of the converted families in Maruti Nagar and 12 families in Devapura. All these families iterated that they had embraced Christianity on their own free will without force or inducement. But Bommai is determined to have the anti-conversion Bill passed. BJP-ruled UP, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Jharkhand have already passed such laws and Bommai does not want to lag behind.
Thanks to its anti-conversion law, UP tops in human rights violation cases in the country for the third consecutive year, according to a Union Home Ministry survey. Opposing the proposed Bill, President of the Karnataka Region Catholic Bishops’ Council Archbishop Peter Machado has said the State seems to have lost its humanity despite being known for progressive politics and Bengaluru being the IT hub of the country.
Expressing apprehension that the Bill could become an instrument of oppression if fringe elements take the law into their hands, the archbishop urged the Chief Minister not to proceed.
The Karnataka High Court, meanwhile, has issued notice to the State government on a public interest litigation by the People’s Union of Civil Liberties against survey of churches in the State. Ordering a survey of churches is a violation of rights as only one religion has been selected. The survey is being done throughout the State at the behest of an MLA.