NEW DELHI, November 6 (Compass Direct News)
– The high court of the western
state of Gujarat today heard a counter complaint
from eight Christians accused of forced conversion
and attempted murder. The counter complaint
charges that Hindu extremists attacked them
and police tortured them.
The eight Christians, all workers of the Indian
Missionary Society (IMS), had filed a petition
on September 28 against nine Hindu extremists
for attacking them in Vankadi village in Dahod
district's Limkheda Taluka on September 20.
"The honorable court accepted the Christians'
petition seeking inclusion of more sections
of the Indian Penal Code in their counter complaint,
and filing of a fresh complaint against a policeman
for subjecting them to mental and physical torture,"
Samson Christian, joint secretary of the All
India Christian Council (AICC), told Compass.
The Gujarat High Court was conducting the first
hearing of a "special criminal application,
" with the next hearing scheduled for November
16. The Christians asked the court to add to
their complaint the charges of using deadly
weapons, criminal intimidation, wrongful confinement
and extortion. "Tomorrow, the victims will
file another petition seeking quashing of the
false complaint against them," Christian
added. The eight were arrested on charges of
forced conversion, attempt to murder and carrying
fire arms on September 24. Kanji Budha Nayak,
the complainant and one of the attackers, had
charged that when he resisted efforts of IMS
workers to forcibly convert him, one of them
opened fire at him. (See Compass Direct News,
"Christians Attacked, Charged with Attempted
Murder," September 29.)
On October 15, after the intervention of the
high court, police filed a counter complaint
against nine Hindu extremists, including Nayak,
for the attack and against Police Sub-Inspector
(PSI) R.S. Sharma of the Devgarhbaria police
station for torturing the Christians. Christian
said Sharma beat Madhu Jagan Baria, one of the
eight Christians, about 10 days ago for refusing
to give a false statement saying he was not
tortured by him earlier. At press time Baria
was recovering in a hospital in Ahmedabad for
a broken leg. "Even since the Christians
were released on bail on September 29, PSI Sharma
has been torturing them physically and mentally,"
Christian said.
Ambushed
The Christians charge that the September 20
attack took place when Pastor A. Arul Daniel
and his family, along with other workers of
IMS, were returning from Divya village, where
they had attended a house warming ceremony of
a widow identified only as Gujiben. On the way,
according to their complaint, they found the
road blocked with branches of trees and stones.
As they slowed down their motorcycles, around
10 people carrying sticks and lethal weapons
attacked them.
"They put a sharp knife on Pastor Daniel's
neck and threatened to kill him if he resisted,"
Christian said. "They took away his mobile
[phone] and some cash, besides snatching his
wife's gold chain." The attackers took
away other mobile phones and personal belongings.
"Then they led them to the main road, abusing
and manhandling them all the way," Christian
said. "By the time the IMS workers reached
Vankadi village, it was very late in the night
and therefore they decided to go to the police
station the following morning."
Before the Christians could go to the police
station, however, a policeman came early in
the morning and took all of them to the Devgarhbaria
police station, where PSI Sharma told them that
a complaint had been lodged against them, Christian
said. Sharma also allegedly refused to file
a counter complaint against the attackers. When
they insisted on registering the complaint,
police reportedly threatened them.
"AICC leaders also contacted the police,
urging them to register the complaint, but they
refused to do so," Christian said. "They
also did not allow them to have medical treatment.
They were detained in the police station till
late in the evening on September 21."
He added that if the state government tries
to justify passage of an anti-conversion amendment
bill, the so-called Freedom of Religion (Amendment)
Bill 2006, by registering false cases against
members of the Christian minority community,
"we will organize mass agitations at the
national level to draw the attention of the
federal government and the global community."
Posted by: "grimgargantua" grimgargantua@email.com
