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Bajrang Dal – Vishwa Hindu Prashid – Laxmanananda Saraswati Death – Communal Violence

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Bajrang Dal – Vishwa Hindu Prashid – Laxmanananda Saraswati Death – Communal Violence Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE Research Response Number: IND34591 Country: India Date: 26 March 2009 Keywords: India – Christians – Stop Violence on Christians rally – Dalits – Bajrang Dal – Vishwa Hindu Prashid – Laxmanananda Saraswati death – Communal violence This response was prepared by the Research & Information Services 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. This research response may not, under any circumstance, be cited in a decision or any other document. Anyone wishing to use this information may only cite the primary source material contained herein. Questions 1. Deleted. 2. Please advise whether there was a protest rally on 27 May 2007 called "Stop Violence on Christians" across India? If so, please provide details. 3. How are the Dalit group identified? 4. What is the Bajrang Dal organisation? 5. What is the Vishwa Hindu Prashid (or Parishad)? 6. Are there reports of increased violence against Christians in August 2008 when Swami Laxmanananda died? 7. Was there a large rally arranged by the All India Christian Council on 23 August 2008? RESPONSE 1. Deleted. 2. Please advise whether there was a protest rally on 27 May 2007 called "Stop Violence on Christians" across India? If so, please provide details. A protest rally called ‘Stop Violence on Christians’ was held, not on 27 May but on Tuesday 29 May 2007. The rally was held in New Delhi and began at 10.00 a.m. The rally, called "Stop Violence On Christians", was organised after two recently televised attacks on Christians and an increase of anti-Christian incidents in the first few months of 2007. The rally started at 10am at Jantar Mantar near the Parliament in New Delhi. Rally organisers had expected 2,000 people, but attendance was estimated at 5,000. Speeches demanded human dignity and constitutional rights for the Christian community and other repressed minorities. Minorities are facing harassment from Hindutva fundamentalists and, in many cases, local government officials (‘In Delhi 4,000 Christians arrested in peaceful protest against violence’ 2007, AsiaNews, 29 May http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=9402&size=A# - Accessed 19 March 2009 – Attachment 2). The rally was organised by a number of groups who had expected about 2,000 participants, but the number was estimated to be over 4,000 on the day: The rally was called in response to two attacks against Christians which were televised on several news channels. Christian leaders are concerned that copycat attacks could take place in future unless the government vocalises opposition to these and other similar attacks, many of which are committed with impunity. The protest was organised by the All India Christian Council (AICC), the All India Catholic Union, Truth-Seekers International, the Christian Lawyers Association and the All India Confederation of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Organisations. Muslim, Buddhists and Hindu representatives, women’s groups and students joined the thousands of Christians from all denominations who took part in the rally. Dr Joseph D’souza, President, All India Christian Council, said, “The diversity of protestors, from several religious communities, different Christian denominations, and even civil society groups, show that India’s citizens want a truly secular India. People should be able to practise their faith without violent attacks. The government’s silence in the face of recent anti- Christian incidents is not only an injustice, it is dangerous” (Christian Solidarity Worldwide 2007, ‘India: Over 4000 people protest against Christian persecution’, Christian Solidarity Worldwide website, 29 May http://dynamic.csw.org.uk/article.asp?t=press&id=632 – Accessed 19 March 2009 – Attachment 3). As well as Christian denominations, the protest also attracted the support of “Muslims, Buddhists and progressive Hindus, leaders of various women’s organisations, students groups from several universities, and Christian lawyers, teachers, and professors. Rally organisers reported attendees from at least seven states in India” (All India Christian Council (AICC) 2007, ‘Thousands of Christians "arrested" in peaceful protest against growing anti-Christian violence’, 29 May http://indianchristians.in/news/content/view/1316/42/ - Accessed 19 March 2009 – Attachment 4). The Parliament Street Police Station House Officer was quoted as saying that he had ‘arrested’ approximately 4,000 people at 1:05pm and released them at 2:10pm. It is standard practice for protestors who obstruct traffic to be detoured into the police station yard. They are temporarily detained for their own protection and allowed to state their demands to police authorities. “This was the first time since November 1997 that such large numbers of Christians have been arrested in the Parliament Street Police Station. It was incredible to see Catholic nuns, Protestant pastors, civil society activists and more singing Christian songs of liberation within the police station,” said John Dayal, Secretary General, All India Christian Council. An earlier plan to march to the parliament house to present a series of demands to the Prime Minister was abandoned and an open letter was to be sent instead. Smaller rallies took place in Andhra Pradesh on the same day also (All India Christian Council (AICC) 2007, ‘Thousands of Christians "arrested" in peaceful protest against growing anti-Christian violence’, 29 May http://indianchristians.in/news/content/view/1316/42/ - Accessed 19 March 2009 – Attachment 4). 3. How are the Dalit group identified? The Dalits, previously known as ‘untouchables’, are generally defined and understood in relation to the Indian caste system, the Dalits existing outside the four main classes (Varna). The Scheduled Castes or Dalits are numbered in the hundreds and membership is derived by birth; The word “Dalit” comes from the Sanskrit root dal- and means “broken, ground-down, downtrodden, or oppressed.” Those previously known as Untouchables, Depressed Classes, and Harijans are today increasingly adopting the term “Dalit” as a name for themselves. “Dalit” refers to one’s caste rather than class; it applies to members of those menial castes which have born the stigma of “untouchability” because of the extreme impurity and pollution connected with their traditional occupations. Dalits are ‘outcastes’ falling outside the traditional four-fold caste system consisting of the hereditary Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra classes; they are considered impure and polluting and are therefore physically and socially excluded and isolated from the rest of society. Dalits represent a community of 170 million in India, constituting 17% of the population. One out of every six Indians is Dalit, yet due to their caste identity Dalits regularly face discrimination and violence which prevent them from enjoying the basic human rights and dignity promised to all citizens of India. Caste-based social organization extends beyond India, finding corollaries in Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangaldesh, as well as other countries outside of South Asia…(“Who are Dalits? & What is Untouchability?’ undated, National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights website, http://www.ncdhr.org.in/ncdhr/general- info-misc-pages/wadwiu - Accessed 18 March 2009 - Attachment 5). Dalits live in impoverished conditions, from which it is difficult to escape, and they are condemned to receive inferior treatment in their society, and restricted to occupying low level, menial and poorly paid occupations, as Human Rights Watch has commented; Despite its constitutional abolition in 1950, the practice of “untouchability”—the imposition of social disabilities on persons by reason of birth into a particular caste— remains very much a part of rural India. Representing over one-sixth of India’s population—or some 160 million people—Dalits endure near complete social ostracization. “Untouchables” may not cross the line dividing their part of the village from that occupied by higher castes. They may not use the same wells, visit the same temples, or drink from the same cups in tea stalls. Dalit children are frequently made to sit at the back of classrooms. In what has been called India’s “hidden apartheid,” entire villages in many Indian states remain completely segregated by caste.9 “Untouchability” is reinforced by state allocation of resources and facilities; separate facilities are provided for separate caste-based neighborhoods. Dalits often receive the poorer of the two, if they receive any at all. In many villages, the state administration installs electricity, sanitation facilities, and water pumps in the upper-caste section, but neglects to do the same in the neighboring, segregated Dalit area. Basic amenities such as water taps and wells are also segregated, and medical facilities and the better, thatched-roof houses exist exclusively in the upper-caste colony (Human Rights Watch 2001, Caste Discrimination. A Global Concern, August, http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2001/08/29/caste-discrimination - Accessed 24 March 2009, p. 6 - Attachment 6). Further information on the Scheduled Castes is provided in a 2007 Research Response (RRT Country Research 2007, Research Response IND31565, 4 April (Question1) – Attachment 7). Although a number of individuals have argued in more recent years that
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