Another
'Survey' Of Christians
By Manas Dasgupta
The Hindu
27th May 2003
PATAN (GUJARAT) 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".