SC Ruling On Conversion Not All That Right, Says CCBI Chief By SAR NEWS BANGALORE, Karnataka (SAR NEWS) -- President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops in India (CCBI), Archbishop Oswald Gracias of Agra, has expressed apprehension about a Supreme Court judgment in the conversion case involving Christian Pastor P. Raju of Channapatna in Karnataka.
The Supreme Court of India August 4 pronounced a verdict drawing an important line between courts taking cognizance of the offence pertaining to proselytisation, and the police lodging first information reports (FIRs) and arresting the erring religious figures indulging in the offence. A bench comprising Justices G.P. Mathur and Dalveer Bhandari said the police did not require prior sanction to lodge an FIR, or arrest a religious leader if there is a complaint of proselytisation against him. “This has serious consequences to the religious freedom practised in our country,” said Archbishop Gracias, August 8, in Bangalore. The court ruling is “not that all right, especially in the case of religious minorities”. Even though there is not a single case of forced conversion in India, some people try to make laws and hurt the sentiments and rights of their fellow citizens, he said. Archbishop Gracias is in Bangalore attending the office-bearers meeting of chairpersons and secretaries of the CCBI in Bangalore. Archbishop Vincent Concessao of Delhi, who arrived in the city August 8 morning, commented that the judgment could give way to fabricated stories and anyone could be arrested. The laws are formed based on individual court rulings so there is a need of further reflection on this judgment and take suitable action to claim our rights or freedom of religion, said the archbishop of Delhi. The Apex Court set aside an order of the High Court, which had quashed a case of proselytisation lodged against Pastor P. Raju under Section 153-B of Indian Penal Code (IPC). The complaint accused Raju of appealing to a Sankranthi congregation January 14, 2005, at Ramapura asking the people to convert to Christianity and promising many benefits and facilities not available to them in the Hindu religion. The Karnataka government had appealed against the High Court order. The court explained that absence of prior sanction, a mandatory prerequisite for a court to take cognizance of such offence, would not prevent a magistrate from remanding to police or judicial custody of an accused arrested by the police for the offence of proselytisation. There is no bar against registration of a criminal case or investigation by the police agency or submission of a charge sheet against the accused in such cases, said Justice Mathur writing for the Bench. Mere production of the arrested accused before the magistrate and the latter remanding him to custodial detention does not amount to taking cognizance of the offence, for which alone prior sanction is required, the Bench said. The High Court clearly erred in quashing the proceedings against the pastor on the ground that prior sanction of the Central Government or of the State government or of the district magistrate had not been obtained, it said. This Supreme Court order is bound to have a ripple effect on the Christian community who claim that they exist to evangelise, said a Christian leader. This ruling assumes significance in the wake of serious opposition by secular forces to efforts by some States to enact laws to prevent proselytisation. They had felt that these laws were meant to persecute those arranging legitimate conversions. _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org