It took Madhya Pradesh police three days to file an FIR against purported Hindutva groups who had allegedly attacked two Catholic priests in Jabalpur on Monday. No arrests have been made in the case so far.
Around 50 Christian pilgrims from the neighbouring Mandla district reached Jabalpur on Monday for a day-long church visit. Members from Hindutva groups allegedly stopped the bus the pilgrims were travelling in and accused them of religious conversion. They allegedly took the pilgrims to Ranjhi police station where they were detained for six hours. However, when the Vicar General of Jabalpur Diocese, Father Davis George, and procurator of diocese Father George Thomas, reached the police station to help the pilgrims, they were allegedly assaulted by Hindutva groups. In a video of the incident, slogans of Jai Shri Ram can also be heard.
While no arrests have been made in the case, police only registered an FIR on April 3, after the issue was raised in Parliament by two members of Parliament from Kerala – Kodikunnil Suresh and Deen Kuriakose.
When Newslaundry questioned the Jabalpur Ranjhi area city superintendent of police Satish Sahu why the police couldn’t stop the assault, register the FIR sooner and arrest the attackers, he replied, “We did our best to intervene. We have filed the FIR and have started the procedure of identification. Soon we are going to arrest those who were involved in the incident.”
Father George told Newslaundry that the police were present during the alleged attack but he didn’t know to what extent their intervention was effective.
“It (police intervention) should have been more effective. Otherwise how could they have assaulted us,” said Father George.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad Jabalpur office-bearer Aarti Shukla, in a statement to the media, said that they had received information suggesting that tribals were being brought to Jabalpur for religious conversion. “The tribals were threatened and tempted to convert to Christianity. Following this, VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) and Bajrang Dal members intervened and brought the pilgrims to the police station,” she said.
However, the pilgrims described their visit and ordeal differently.
Om Prakash Dhurve, a pilgrim from Malimohgaon in Mandla, said the Hindutva groups were creating issues for no reason.
“No conversion was happening (during the pilgrims’ visit). My parents were Christians, and I’ve been a Christian since birth. We came to visit churches in Jabalpur as part of a religious tour. But these people made up stories, saying we were brought here for conversion. They stopped us with the police’s help and took us to Ranjhi police station, where we were detained for hours.”
Another pilgrim from Malimohgaon, Sunita Marawi, alleged that they were harassed over the suspicion that they were there to be converted to Christianity.
“My family has been Christian for three generations. I’m a Christian by birth, so how can I be converted again?” she said, adding, “ About 50 of us came from Mandla to visit different churches. The police wrote down our names and asked why we came to Jabalpur. It’s just harassment, nothing more.”
Arpita Nareti, another pilgrim from Malimohgaon, said, “We came here by our own choice as part of a pilgrimage tour to visit churches in Jabalpur. No one forced us to do this. We are Christians by birth and were not here to be converted.”
Following the incident, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) – a permanent association of Catholic bishops in India that coordinates and promotes social missions of the Catholic Church across the country – has urged Home Minister Amit Shah and Minority Minister Kiren Rijiju to intervene and ensure to uphold the right of Christian Community
“It is deeply distressing that the Christian community, which has played a significant role in freedom struggle and nation-building, and has always upheld constitutional values, is repeatedly targeted, harassed, and denied its fundamental right to worship by extremist and anti-national elements,” read CBCI’s statement.
The body also stated that this is not an isolated incident but part of a disturbing pattern and strategy to create communal polarisation and hostility towards religious minorities. CBCI also urged the Madhya Pradesh government to take stringent action against the people who were involved in the attack.
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