IPT 2.1 | january 2024 | Section 5
Violations of freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance
Restrictions on places of worship and targeting of religious places
Minority religious places continue to be attacked, with little safeguards provided and perpetrators not being held to account.
On December 27th, a church in Karnataka’s Mysuru district was vandalized with the statue of baby Jesus damaged, and money taken from the donation box.
On October 6, a mob entered the premises of Mahmud Gawan Madarsa mosque, a historic mosque in Bidar, Karnataka, under the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India. The mob broke the locks of the mosque, and chanted slogans of ‘Jai Shree Ram’ and ‘Jai Hindu Dharam’ while inside the mosque’s premises.
In October, a makeshift Christian prayer hall built by the minority Christian community in Kamlai in Ampi village of Gomti district, Tripura, was dismantled by the Hindu Jamatias for reportedly falling within the jurisdiction of the boundaries of the latter performing their prayers.
The ownership of Muslim religious spaces continued to be challenged by BJP aligned Hindu groups through use of legal processes, with authorities, including courts, often seen taking a sympathetic line. These follow the precedent established by the Babri Masjid case where Hindu claims over Muslim place of worship was upheld by the Supreme Court of India, despite evidence to the contrary. Some such applications filed in courts over the past few months include:
In November, Bajrang Dal filed a Public Interest Litigation in Karnataka claiming that Hindu devotees be allowed to pray in the Jamia mosque inside the Srirangapatna Fort, as the mosque according to the petition was built on a temple site. On December 10th, members of right wing group Hindu Jagran Vedike also tried to barge into the mosque.
In September, a petition was filed at a Mathura court in Uttar Pradesh seeking the removal of Meena Masjid. The suit has been filed by the national treasurer of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha and claims that the mosque has been built on a part of the Thakur Keshav Dev Ji temple.
Another petition in September claimed that the Jama Masjid mosque complex in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh, was built by demolishing an ancient temple.
Restrictions on practice and manifestation of religion
Educational institutions preventing Muslims girls wearing hijab, from attending schools.
The issue began in the state of Karnataka when the Government Pre University College for Girls in Udupi barred six female students from sitting in classes and writing their exams for violating the dress code by wearing hijabs. BJP Member of state legislative assembly, Raghupathi Bhat, who is also the president of the college development committee, was seen leading a rally in Udupi in October, in which slogans were raised to ‘Build a Hindurashtra’.
This denial of right to freedom of religion (and to education) to Muslim girls is spreading to other regions of the country, with a 16 year old girl in Kerala being forced to leave her school after the school authorities told her that she could not wear a scarf as it was not a part of the school uniform.
Christians in the country continue to be targeted by ‘anti-conversion’ laws and violating freedom to adopt and manifest one’s religion. These laws are being used to target Christians who have converted to the religion, as well as pastors accusing them of forcing conversions and arresting them without adequate evidence (more details in Section 2) There are more incidents of cases being registered against Christians due to pressure from Hindu nationalist groups, such as:
On October 28th, cases were registered against nine people under the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, for allegedly forcing 100 people to convert to Christianity in Mangatpuram, Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. The local BJP leader and Hindu Jagran Manch reached the area to demand strict punishment. Meanwhile, on journalist’s queries, locals who live there said that no such attempt had been made, and that there was a makeshift church there for those who wished to pray in it without any coercion involved.
On November 13th, cases were registered against ten members of a Christian organisation in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh district for alleged religious conversions involving minors. Sections 42 and 75 of Juvenile Justice Act and 3 and 5 of MP Freedom of Religion Act, along with 370 of IPC, which deals with trafficking, was registered against the 10 members.
The spate and scope of these attacks the matter have led Christian groups to approach the Supreme Court for protection. The matter is still pending, with no final order from the SC.
Meanwhile, the religious faith and identify of non-Hindus, continues to be challenged. On November 15th Mohan Bhagwat, the chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (BJP’s ideological parent) reiterated the ‘Akhand Bharat’ (Greater Indian nation) logic that every Indian is a ‘Hindu’ at an event in the state of Chhatisgarh. “We have been telling, since 1925 (when RSS was founded) that everyone living in India is a Hindu. Those who consider India as their matrubhoomi (motherland) and want to live with a culture of unity in diversity and make efforts in this direction, irrespective of whatever religion, culture, language and food habit and ideology they follow, are Hindus,” Bhagwat said.