Allegations of Christian persecution false; petitioner resorting to wrong news reports: Central government to Supreme Court

The Central government has told the Supreme Court there is no merit in the plea alleging increasing attacks on Christians in India and the petitioner has "resorted to falsehood and self-serving documents" along with press reports which have misreported such incidents. .In an affidavit filed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, it was submitted that as per the inputs it has received, the majority of the incidents cited by the petitioner as attack on Christians were wrongfully projected in news reports."The petitioners claimed to have based the petition on information gathered through sources like press reports (The Wire, The Scroll, Hindustan Times, Dainik Bhaskar, etc.), “independent” online databases and from findings of various non-profit organisations. It is submitted that enquiries reveal that majority of the incidents alleged as Christian persecution in these reports were either false or wrongfully projected," the affidavit said.In some cases, incidents of purely criminal nature and arising out of personal issues, have been categorised as violence targeting Christians while several incidents, which were found to be true or exaggerated, were not necessarily related to incidents of violence targeting Christians, it was contended.The affidavit was filed in response to a plea alleging rising number of attacks on Christian institutions and priests across the country and seeking the implementation of its guidelines to curb hate crimes.The relief sought in the plea filed by Rev. Peter Machado and others includes implementation of the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in the 2018 Tehseen Poonawala judgment.The Supreme court had come out with a slew of guidelines for the Centre and the States in that judgment including appointment of nodal officers to take note of such crimes, fast-tracked trials, victim compensation, deterrent punishment and disciplinary action against lax law-enforcment officials.When the matter came up for hearing today before a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Central government, said that the MHA has filed its response. Senior Counsel Colin Gonsalves sought time to file rejoinder. "I only just received it. Would like to have it next week. I will file a rejoinder," he said.The matter was then listed for Thursday, August 25. .MHA's affidavit said that in the absence of material particulars, there exist serious discrepancy in the facts as alleged in a petition."In some cases, incidents of purely criminal nature and arising out of personal issues, have been categorised as violence targeting Christians. It is submitted that several incidents, which were found to be true or exaggerated, were not necessarily related to incidents of violence targeting Christians. For instance, incidents wherein merely complaints/accusations were made against Christians had also been cited as instances of persecution of a particular community in the report," it was submitted..Incidents of minor disputes with no religious/communal angle, had been published in the self-serving reports as instances of violence against Christians. "A local dispute between two parties was given a religious colour in the report. For instance, it was mentioned that one Varsha and her family (Christian) were heckled by some people at their home in Shahgarh (district Sagar, Madhya Pradesh) for not celebrating Diwali (November 6, 2021). However, it appears that there was a private dispute between the two parties, which had nothing to do with religious background of the two parties," MHA reply said..Further, the MHA submitted that a "preliminary factual check" of the plea revealed that in any alleged crime, wherein the victim practiced the particular religion, the reports sought to assume a communal reason behind the same without even ascertainment of basic facts."About 162 incidents were not truthfully recorded and the remaining 139 were either false or deliberated projected wrongfully as instances of targeted violence against Christians," the affidavit stated. It was also pointed out in such cases Police had taken prompt action in numerous cases and conducted necessary investigation as per rules. "It may not be out of place to mention that no affected person has not taken any recourse to law either based upon the grounds as alleged or otherwise," the affidavit further said.