Tue Nov 14, 2006
John Dayal's note: Here is something that should
give courage to Tribal Christians who are being
coerced by he Hindutva Parivar in the coercive
so called Ghar Wapsi [home coming] movement
to convert to Hinduism. This is courtesy The
Milli Gazette, India's largest English language
Islamic newsweekly published from New Delhi.
Coercive "Ghar Vapsi" of Muslims
fails in Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh High Court
rescued the victims By Sahar Khan Raigarh: In
a setback to 'coerced' Ghar Vapsi attempt (religious
re-conversion in Chhattisgarh) the state High
Court directed the state administration to ensure
that all the four members of a Gond tribal family,
who embraced Islam, are not pressurized to adopt
Hindu religion. A Division Bench, consisting
of Justice L C Bhadu and Justice V K Shrivastava,
stated that they should be allowed to practice
and profess their new faith and the state administration
provide them with police security if any complaint
is registered by them.
The statements, given by all members of the
family before the Division Bench, went contrary
to the earlier claim of the Sarguja district
administration that they were not coerced; rather
they re- converted from Islam fold willingly.
In their recorded statements, the family accused
local BJP MLA, Renuka Singh, and her supporters
for assaulting them and forcing their re-conversion.
The police produced all the four members of
the family before the court under production
warrant (Habeas Corpus).
The religious re-conversions in this tribal
state were usually seen involving Christians
being brought back to Hindu fold during BJP
leader and a Rajya Sabha member, Dilip Singh
Judeo's much hyped 'Ghar Vapsi' campaign.
It may be recalled that a Gond family were allegedly
coerced to re- convert to their original faith
on October 3 after they embraced Islam about
a year ago at Surajpur in Sarguja district of
Chhattisgarh.
Rai Singh alias Nur-ul-Islam, his father Geetan
Ram alias Abdullah, mother Meera Bai alias Amina
and sister Rambai alias Fatima Khatoon were
practicing their new faith before their forced
re-conversion. Talking to the Milli Gazette,
23-year-old Nur-ul-Islam said "Renuka Singh
along with her two thousand supporters stormed
his house on October 3 on the Puja day and forced
him to re-convert from Islam...
My head was tonsured and beard shaved off by
her supporters", he narrated. His 19-year-old
sister, Fatima, who accompanied him along with
their parents to the High Court, told that she
and her family members were threatened with
dire consequences if they fail to re- convert
to their original faith. She informed that they
were reconverted under 'Shuddhikaran' programme
against their wishes.
Earlier, the district Superintendent of Police
RS Nayak, told that they reconverted after villagers
'convinced' them about deprivation of various
government benefits meant for tribals if they
convert. "They had re-converted willingly",
Nayak had then said. He stated that Renuka Singh
and other local BJP leaders were invited
for 'Shuddhikaran' occasion. However, the district
collector, Manoj Kumar Pingua, denied this.
"Both BJP leaders were invited on Puja
festival and not for Shuddhikaran" , Pingua
said. The police refused to disclose the identity
of those who allegedly 're-converted' the Gond
family.
Counsel AJ Lohani, representing the petitioner,
informed that police was reluctant to lodge
FIR on the issue before the filing of Habeas
Corpus in the High Court on October 10. "The
family had already informed about their adopting
new faith to the district magistrate a year
ago, as prescribed in the Madhya Pradesh Dhram
Swatantra Adhiniyam (Act) 1969", said the
counsel.
Source: The Milli Gazette, 16-30 November 2006,
p. 3
johndayal@vsnl.com
