Refugee Review Tribunal
AUSTRALIA
RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE
Research Response Number: IND30502 Country: India Date: 31 August 2006
Title: India – Kerala – Governments – Christians – Communal violence
This response was prepared by the Country Research Section of the Refugee Review
Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be,
conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.
Questions
1. Which government is in power in India currently? 2. Which government is in power in Kerala specifically? 3. Please indicate the location of Kerala in terms of Mumbai. 4. What are the key instances of violence in Kerala against Christians going back up to 6 years?
RESPONSE
1. Which government is in power in India currently?
The Congress Party has been in power since the elections in May 2004 (‘Country Profile: India’ (undated) BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/country_profiles/1154019.stm – Accessed 29 August 2006 – Attachment 1).
2. Which government is in power in Kerala specifically?
The LDF (Left Democratic Front), which holds 98 out of the 140 seats in the States Unicarmel Legislature was sworn in 18 May 2006. Main parties in the LDF are the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (61 seats) and the Communist Party of India (17 seats) (‘Political Background of the State of Kerala’ (undated) Kerala State Government Website http://www.kerala.gov.in/knowkerala/political.htm – Accessed 25 August 2006 – Attachment 2)
3. Please indicate the location of Kerala in terms of Mumbai.
Kerala State lies south of Mumbai on the West coast of India. North to South, the State is approximately 750 and 2000km’s respectively from Mumbai (Encarta Map – Attachment 3).
4. What are the key instances of violence in Kerala against Christians going back up to 6 years?
A search was made of the resources available to the Tribunal going back to 2000 to identify instances of violence against Christians in Kerala. A report on Rediff concerning a murder in Uttar Pradesh shows how such events appeared not to be occurring in Kerala:
John Dayal, national secretary, All-India Catholic Union, termed the murder of a priest near Mathura in Uttar Pradesh on June 6 as a blot on the nation. He accused the Centre of doing nothing to book the culprits. “An inquiry will not come up with any result. It will only lead to more crime,” he quipped.
David Scamands, president, Karnataka Christian Association and deputy chairman of the Karnataka Legislative Council, said the Christian Council had documented 30 major instances of violence in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. He wanted to know what the Centre was doing about it.
Dr K P Yohanan, vice-chairman of the Kerala Christian Council, said the UP murder had shocked Kerala Christians. An emergency meeting of the KCC has been called to discuss these incidents (Jafri S.A. 2000, ‘Christian leaders demand reconstitution of Central Minorities Commission’ 10 June, rediff.com http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/jun/10ap1.htm – Accessed 30 August 2006 – Attachment 4).
In early 2003 an American missionary was attacked:
An American missionary has been attacked in southern India by right-wing Hindus allegedly belonging to a group close to the ruling party. Joseph W Cooper, 68, who is from Pennsylvania, received knife wounds in the assault in Kerala state in which five others were also hurt. Police say they have arrested five activists of the hardline Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Eyewitnesses say Mr Cooper, a visiting preacher, was surrounded by an armed gang of 10 people as he was returning from a prayer meeting. “We were approaching our car when the unexpected attack took place,” Pastor Benson Sam told the BBC. A police spokesman said Mr Cooper had sustained a deep cut in his right palm. “The gang attacked Cooper and others with swords, sticks and iron bars. “As other church members rushed to the scene the attackers fled,” he was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency. A local pastor, his wife and two children and one other person were also injured. But local RSS leaders deny the movement had anything to do with the attack (‘US missionary attacked in India’ 2003, BBC News, 15 January http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2659785.stm – Accessed 29 August 2006 – Attachment 5).
A report released several months later, and reported by Compass Direct, noted:
Following its investigation into the January attack on U.S. missionary Joseph Cooper, the Confederation of Human Rights Organization (CHRO) has concluded that the crime was the result of a conspiracy by a local unit of the nationalist Hindu Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). ….
An earlier investigation conducted by the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) reported that the attack was not planned, but occurred as a public outcry against the “wrongdoings and immoral acts by Rev. Benson’s family in the area.” The American missionary was an unwitting victim of a scandal, the NCM reported.
Sources say the CHRO findings are more trustworthy than the report from the government- controlled NCM. Leading religious rights advocates in India say John Joseph, who supervised the NCM report, has ties with the RSS.
The CHRO team reported that RSS activists threatened some witnesses and attempted to bribe others with promises of government funding for local development projects in order to prevent police action against Cooper’s attackers. The RSS has been terrorizing the low caste Vedar community in the area for some time, investigators said.
Careful planning had gone into the attack. Local RSS workers were mobilized in anticipation of the convention when it was announced that Cooper would be participating. During the meetings, assailants deflated the tires of the vehicle carrying the missionary and his Indian companions. As the group walked toward the automobile, attackers hurled homemade bombs to scare away local people (Prabhu, A. 2003 ‘Hindu Fundamentalists Plotted Attack on American Missionary’ Compass Direct, 14 March – Attachment 6)
A report by Frontline drew a connection between the attack on Cooper and Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) a: Early last year, the attack on an American missionary, Joseph William Cooper, in Thiruvananthapuram, almost coincided with the two-day `Vanavasi Sangamom’ organised by the Sangh Parivar at Mananthavadi in Wayanad district, to promote the all-India game plan of “Hinduising” tribal people. The high-profile conference, attended by top Sangh Parivar leaders, was itself preceded by events orchestrated by the VHP and other Hindutva organisations to “celebrate the reconversion of (a few) Adivasis to Hinduism”. The Matsya Pravartaka Sanghom, another RSS family unit, recently started a mobilisation initiative, organising `Sagara poojas’ (worshipping the sea) and Hindu maha sammelans at select centres in the coastal areas and near freshwater lakes. This is but an example of the vast infrastructure the RSS-led Hindutva organisations have established in Kerala, which it considers a sunrise region for interventions tailored to bring about a fundamentalist shift in the thinking of Hindus. But the Hindu community, whose loyalties are divided among various political parties and coalitions, castes and caste-based political groups, has so far given no indications of helping the Parivar realise its dream (Krishnakumar, R. 2004, ‘The spread in the South’, Frontline, Vol 21: Issue 06, March 13 – March 26 http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2106/stories/20040326004900900.htm – Accessed 6 January 2005 – Attachment 7).
In 2003 a spokespersons for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India and for the Vatican noted:
Spokespersons for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India and for the Vatican noted that the number of physical attacks against Christians has decreased since 2000. However, anti- Christian violence, including killings, continued. In addition, Hindu nationalists began an ideological campaign to limit access to Christian institutions and discourage or, in some cases, prohibit conversions to Christianity (‘International Religious Freedom Report 2003’ 2003, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, December 18 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2003/24470pf.htm – Accessed 19 December 2003 – Attachment 8).
Three priests and six nuns were attacked in September 2004 as reported by the BBC which also contains a comment from S.K. George about the murder of a priest the previous month:
Police in the southern Indian state of Kerala have detained 15 people following two attacks on nuns and priests of the Missionaries of Charity. The three priests and six nuns were reportedly attacked in separate incidences on the outskirts of Kozhikode on Saturday. A representative of Indian Christians has blamed the attacks on members of right-wing Hindu political parties. Kerala’s chief minister has promised to act against those responsible.
The national convenor of the Bangalore-based Global Council for Indian Christians Sajan K George said members of the right-wing Hindu parties Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were behind the attack. Mr George said the attackers had raised banners with slogans in favour of RSS and BJP when they attacked the nuns, accusing them of converting Dalit Hindus. He also said state officials had been slow in responding to such incidents and last month’s murder of a Christian priest is yet to be solved.
This is the first instance of attacks on nuns in Kerala. The first incident took place on Saturday morning when two nuns visited a slum on the outskirts of Kozhikode. They had carried food for slum people, mostly Dalits, who live in extreme poverty. They were allegedly pulled out of the jeep and the crosses they wore around their necks were allegedly broken (Keywords: Raman, S. 2004 ‘India nun attacks trigger arrests’, BBC News, 26 September http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3691786.stm – Accessed 29 August 2006 – Attachment 9)
In April 2005 Compass Direct reported the following attack:
-- Hindu and Muslim villagers burned down a prayer hall and physically attacked three church members following a baptism ceremony in Kerala, India, on April 1. Two days later, villagers assaulted Pastor Paul Ciniraj Mohammed and his 54-year-old assistant.
Ciniraj, as he prefers to be known, is a Christian from a Muslim background. He pastors the church in Thiruvananthapuram district -- popularly known as Trivandrum.
“Four villagers from Panamvilla were baptized in a ceremony in the prayer hall early in the morning on April 1, which perhaps made some villagers unhappy,” he said. A total of 26 adults from different villages were baptized during the ceremony.
“After the baptism, I went back to my place in Kottayam district. Later I heard that a group of local villagers, comprised of both Hindus and Muslims, attacked three of our church members while they were praying in the prayer hall,” Ciniraj said. “After beating them up, the miscreants set the prayer hall on fire.” (Arora, V. 2005 ;Villagers in India Beat Christians, Burn Down Prayer Hall India’ Compass Direct, 15 April, CX119920 – Attachment 10)
The report goes on to make general comments about violence against Christians in Kerala:
Incidents of violence against Christians are increasingly common in Kerala. As recently as February 22, five pastors from the Churchof Godwere beaten in Karunagapally, near Kerala’s Kollam district, while they were holding a convention.
Dr. John Dayal, a respected Christian leader and member of the National Integration Council, confirmed this trend. “I have been watching the communal situation in Kerala with alarm for some years. The growth of the RSS, beginning in the north of Kerala, has gone unchecked. ... In recent times, the Sangh Parivar [family of Hindu activist groups] has become very aggressive in most districts of the state,” he said.
“This intolerance is alien to the culture of Kerala where different faiths and people have lived in harmony. ... If the people do not summarily reject this culture of hatred and violence which the Sangh propagates and practices, it will do irreparable damage.” In another report by the same author concerning the suspected murder of a Christian Evangelist in Karnataka comments on an assault of 6 seminary students in Kerala:
Meanwhile, activists from the Hindu fundamentalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) violently attacked six seminary students in neighboring Kerala state on February 13, Asia News reported. The seminary students had traveled to Mannar township as part of a Christian outreach program. Witnesses saw the RSS activists forcing the students to board an auto rickshaw. The students were then taken outside the town and beaten severely. All six students required hospital treatment. Kerala has one of the highest concentrations of Christians in India at 19.3 percent of the population. However, the number of anti-Christian incidents has increased in Kerala and other southern states in recent months (Arora, V. 2005 ‘Indian evangelist’ s battered body found in Karnataka Christians suspect death linked to growing tide of religious violence’ Human Rights Watch without Frontiers website http://www.hrwf.net/html/2005PDF/India_2005.pdf – Accessed 31 August 2006 – Attachment 11).
Some attacks on Christians have been by other Christian groups as reported in an incident in July 2005:
The police resorted to lathi-charge on the premises of St. Mary’s Jacobite Church, near U.C. College, Aluva, to disperse a mob, which set afire the car of Additional Advocate-General V.K. Beeran and threw stones, on Sunday evening.
The car was set afire after Mr. Beeran and his family members got out of it. Members of the Jacobite Church were enraged at the Orthodox Church’s Catholicos-designate, Thomas Mar Thimothiose, holding a mass at the Thrikunnath Seminary Church in the forenoon.
The allegation was that he was allowed into the disputed premises with the help of the State Government and the police.
Enraged at the entry of the Orthodox Metropolitan into the church and the holding of mass there, the mob resorted to violence, near U.C. College, which is 6 km from the disputed seminary. Violence erupted even as the managing committee meeting of the Jacobite Church was going on in the church (‘50 injured in Kerala violence’ 2005, The Hindu, 4 July – Attachment 12)
Also reported in 2004 was the murder of a Christian “At least one Christian each was killed in Kerala and Madhya Pradesh during the year” (‘95 killed in Hindu-Muslim violence till September’ 2004, Xinhuanet website, 21 December http://news3.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-12/22/content_2364938.htm – Accessed 24 December 2004 – Attachment 13).
In October 2004 a Bishop’s home was attached:
In Kerala state on October 17, four unidentified men armed with wooden sticks attacked the home of Bishop Vincent Samuel in Neyyatinkara. Attackers had destroyed the windows and were about to break in when a police patrol arrived. A security guard was injured in the attack, and three vehicles were damaged.
The report also raises the problems concerning religious attacks:
Many incidents of violence against both Catholics and Protestants went unreported, since the police often refused to record the victims’ complaints, but by last June the number of violent attacks recorded by Christian organizations had reached over 200. This number was expected to double by year’s end. Catholics, who make up about 29 percent of Christians in India according to Operation World, were often targeted in these attacks. … Desecration of religious objects is common in such attacks. Police, however, often ignore the religious aspects of a complaint because of the legal implications. …
In several cases of religiously-motivated violence this year, police have refused to record a “First Information Report,” leaving the victims with no legal means to pursue their complaints. In other cases, desecration of religious objects is recorded only as petty crime or theft.…
The Rev. Dr. Babu Joseph, director of communications and spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, told Compass the total number of violent incidents reported had declined over the past year. “This is partly due to the change of government in 2004, and its policies of inclusiveness ... which have given a better sense of security to those who suffered harassment,” Joseph claimed.
Other Christian leaders rejected Joseph’s claim of decreasing religious violence, but all agree that anti-Christian violence surged after the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won federal elections held in 1998. The BJP government was ousted by a Congress Party-led coalition in new elections held in April 2004 (Carvalho, N. (undated) ‘Hindu Violence A Year of Violence Against India’s Catholics’ Compass Direct, http://www.truthandgrace.com/Hinduviolence.htm – accessed 29 August 2006 – Attachment 14)
List of Sources Consulted
Internet Sources: Government Information & Reports US Department of State http://www.state.fov/
Non-Government Organisations
Human Rights Watch http://www.hrw.org/ International News & Politics BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk Region Specific Links rediff http://Rediff.com Search Engines Copernic http://www.copernic.com/
Databases: FACTIVA (news database) BACIS (DIMA Country Information database) ISYS (RRT Country Research database, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, US Department of State Reports)
List of Attachments
1. ‘Country Profile: India’ (undated) BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/country_profiles/1154019.stm – Accessed 29 August 2006.
2. ‘Political Background of the State of Kerala’ (undated) Kerala State Government Website http://www.kerala.gov.in/knowkerala/political.htm – Accessed 25 August 2006
3. Map
4. Jafri S.A. 2000, ‘Christian leaders demand reconstitution of Central Minorities Commission’ 10 June, rediff.com http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/jun/10ap1.htm – Accessed 30 August 2006.
5. ‘US missionary attacked in India’ 2003, BBC News, 15 January http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2659785.stm – Accessed 29 August 2006.
6. Prabhu, A. 2003 ‘Hindu Fundamentalists Plotted Attack on American Missionary’ Compass Direct, 14 March.
7. Krishnakumar, R. 2004, ‘The spread in the South’, Frontline, Vol 21: Issue 06, March 13 – March 26 http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2106/stories/20040326004900900.htm – Accessed 6 January 2005.
8. ‘International Religious Freedom Report 2003’ 2003, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, December 18 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2003/24470pf.htm – Accessed 19 December 2003.
9. Raman, S. 2004 ‘India nun attacks trigger arrests’, BBC News, 26 September http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3691786.stm – Accessed 29 August 2006.
10. Arora, V. 2005 ‘Villagers in India Beat Christians, Burn Down Prayer Hall India’ Compass Direct, 15 April, CISNET CX119920.
11. Arora, V. 2005 ‘Indian evangelist’s battered body found in Karnataka: Christians suspect death linked to growing tide of religious violence’ Human Rights Watch without Frontiers website http://www.hrwf.net/html/2005PDF/India_2005.pdf – Accessed 31 August 2006.
12. ‘50 injured in Kerala violence’ 2005, The Hindu, 4 July. (FACTIVA)
13. ‘95 killed in Hindu-Muslim violence till September’ 2004, Xinhuanet website, 21 December http://news3.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-12/22/content_2364938.htm – Accessed 24 December 2004.
14. Carvalho, N. (undated) ‘Hindu Violence A Year of Violence Against India’s Catholics’ Compass Direct, http://www.truthandgrace.com/Hinduviolence.htm – accessed 29 August 2006.