[Plea alleging attacks on Christians] Supreme Court directs 8 States to file report on status of probe, arrests made, chargesheets filed

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed eight States to submit details about the status of cases of alleged violence against Christians and Christian institutions [Rev. Peter Machado and ors vs Union of India and ors]..A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli ordered Bihar, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh to furnish information about the registration of first information reports (FIRs), status of the investigation, arrests made, and chargesheets filed in such crimes, within two months. The information has to be submitted to the Union Home Ministry, which will then collate the same and file a report before the top court. "In order to apprise the Court as to the manner in which the directions issued in Tehseen Poonawala vs Union of India have been implemented in different States, we issue the following directions: The Union Home Ministry shall obtain verification reports from the following States on the steps which have been taken in respect to incidents of alleged violence reported and forming the subject matter of the present petition," the Court said. The Court, however, made it clear that it was not expressing any opinion on the veracity of the allegations raised by the petitioner.The Court was hearing a plea filed by Reverend Peter Machado and others seeking implementation of the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in its 2018 Tehseen Poonawala judgment.In that judgment, the apex court had laid down a slew of guidelines for the Centre and the States to prevent hate crimes including appointment of nodal officers to take note of such crimes, fast-tracking trials, victim compensation, deterrent punishment and disciplinary action against lax law enforcement officials.Relying on the same, the petitioners in the present plea sought registration of first information reports and probe by special investigation teams into instances of attacks on Christians and Christian institutions.The plea also sought quashing of the frivolous cases filed by such attackers on the victims..The Central government had earlier submitted an affidavit stating that there was no merit in the plea, and that the police had taken prompt action in all the cases cited. Further, the affidavit said that petitioner has "resorted to falsehood and self-serving documents" along with press reports that have discrepancies and misreported and wrongfully projected minor incidents as religious hate crimes. In some cases, incidents of purely criminal nature and arising out of personal issues have been categorised as violence targeting Christians, the affidavit filed on behalf of the Union Home Ministry stated.In their rejoinder to the Central government's response, the petitioners denied the above allegations. The incidents of violence against Christians were documented by independent media, the rejoinder stated. Further, several affected have not been able to avail any legal recourse out of fear and alleged inaction of police, it was submitted..When the matter was taken up for hearing today, the Bench asked Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves, who was appearing for the petitioners, about how many of the incidents mentioned can be classified as religious hate crime."Merely because a crime happened against member of a community, it may not be a communal one," Justice Chandrachud remarked. The Senior Counsel then took the Court through incidents of violence against Christians across States, and pointed out how the perpetrators were not being prosecuted even as prayer meetings were being disrupted. "Number of complaints against perpetrators - 53, number of arrests - 23, number of pastors arrested - 510!" he submitted. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta strongly objected to the allegations and the reports relied upon, which he argued were published only days prior to the PIL being filed."These are all self-serving data. If I also plant articles and approach court under [Article] 32 what will happen? Government can't prepare such reports. According to him, most peaceful State is West Bengal", he said. The Court eventually proceeded to seek data from the States. .[Follow our coverage of today's hearing]