The Hindu : Another 'survey' of Christians

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 27, 2003

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Other States - Gujarat

Another 'survey' of Christians

By Manas Dasgupta

PATAN (GUJARAT) May 26. In total disregard of the Gujarat High Court's orders, the Patan district police have launched yet another "survey" of the Christians and the institutions run by the community even as the State authorities denied issuing any such instruction.

Not only are police virtually acting as the census officers enumerating the Christian families, they have also been asking the converts why and when they have embraced Christianity and the "source of income" of the Christian institutions undertaking welfare schemes such as digging borewells in scarcity-hit villages.

The "survey" from time to time had become a major irritant for the Christians in the State and the All-India Christian Council had on several occasions drawn the attention of the National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for the Minorities in this regard. On petitions filed by the AICC joint secretary, Samson Christian, the Gujarat High Court had at least thrice in the past issued directives to the State Government to refrain from undertaking such a community-based survey while allowing police to investigate complaints against individuals belonging to the community.

Mr. Christian claimed that when he asked about the "survey" in some villages of Patan district, the State Director-General of Police, K. Chakravarthy, pleaded ignorance and denied that any such instruction had been issued by the State police or the Government.

The police inspector of the Patan taluk police station, A. H. Jardosh, who led the "survey" team to the "Catholic Ashram" and the "Daughters of Cross" institutions in Dungripur village, however, told Mr. Christian that he had received "oral orders" from the District Superintendent of Police to carry out the survey. He had also told the Christians in the village that the survey by his team would be followed by a detail investigation by the State CID.

The police party landed at the Catholic Ashram past midnight on Saturday and woke up 69-year-old Father Munnu, a freedom fighter and Ashram in-charge. Police, however, returned empty-handed when Father Munnu questioned the advisability of making inquiries in the dead of the night since there was no specific complaints against him. But police, this time in civilian dress, returned to the Ashram again next day morning to record details of the inmates in the Ashram, its activities, source of income and such other issues.

Police also visited the houses of some 10 Christian families in the village asking them why they kept photographs of Jesus Christ, why and when they embraced Christianity and some "inside information" about the Ashram. Later, the police party also went to the "Daughters of Cross", a branch of the Daughters of Cross Education and Medical Society, Anand, and questioned Sister Jyoti and two other nuns there. Later, a similar survey of the Christian houses was carried out in the neighbouring Tankvaas, Khalipur and Odhava villages.

Apparently not satisfied with the details they collected, police this morning summoned the superintendent and the watchman of the Dungripur Ashram to the Patan taluk police station to cross-check with the information supplied by Father Munnu or Sister Jyoti.

The survey was preceded on Saturday by a visit to the Dungripur village by a group of people posing as journalists who were caught taking photographs of the Christian houses.

The group left quietly after the suspicious local people questioned its veracity and informed Father Munnu about the incident.

Mr. Christian said he had filed written complaints with the NHRC and the NCM about the Patan incident and would be filing another writ petition in the Gujarat High Court drawing its attention to the violation by police of its earlier orders.

He said police temporarily suspended such survey activities whenever orders were issued by the High Court or other authorities only to revive the same after the dust had settled.

He said such operations were deliberately carried out to irritate "Christians".

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