Joint Fact-Finding
Probe on RSS attack on
Christian Missionaries in Kerala
"People's Watch"
(Tamil Nadu) and CHRO (Kerala)
Following contradictory and
divergent reports on the attack on Christian missionaries, including
a U.S. citizen, Rev. Joseph W. Cooper, near Kilimanoor in Thiruvananthapuram
district, on January 13, 2003, (Monday) night, a joint fact-finding
team of Confederation of Human Rights Organisations (CHRO), Kerala,
and People's Watch (PW) Tamil Nadu was constituted with the following
members :
1) Ms. Maya Nair (PW, Tamil
Nadu)
2) Ms. M. Rajakumari (PW, Tamil Nadu)
3) Dr. Abdul Salam (CHRO, Kerala)
4) Sr. Annie Punnoose (CHRO, Kerala)
5) K. S. Sreejith Kumar (CHRO, Kerala)
The team spent a whole day
on January 20, 2003, to make spot visit at the affected areas near Kilimanoor,
and took versions of local people including eye-witnesses of the incident,
police personnel, and the injured convalescing at KIMS hospital, Thiruvananthapuram.
Apart from police personnel,
versions of the following local people and victims of the attack helped
us to make this report : Ms. Sarala (45, Christian), David (35, Christian),
Rajan (non-Christian), Johnson (43, Christian), Rajendran (53, non-Christian
and CPI-M supporter), Nalinakshan (non-Christian and Congress supporter),
Rev. Cooper (67), and Pastor Benson Sam. Besides, versions of other
local people, who do not want to be identified due to threat perception
and fear-psychosis prevailing in the area, were collected and incorporated
in this report.
Salient features like Findings
and Recommendations of the report are given below .
(Note : Those who want to
have the complete report, may contact the following : CHRO, Kerala :
Phone : 0471-2476262 ;
Mobile : 98473-20011 ; e-mail : [email protected]
People's Watch (Tamil Nadu) : Ph: 0452-532432 ; Fax : 0452-531874 ;
e-mail : henri@s
Findings of the fact finding
team:
1. The Friends of Bible Church
had decided to organize Convention in the local Church. This Convention
was scheduled to be from the 13.01.2003 to 15.01.2003. Although pamphlets
were distributed, the word Convention does not refer to a very large
gathering of people associated with such "Christian conventions"
in South India.
2. On 13.01.2003 the members
of the Church who had presided over the Convention, namely, Bishop Cooper,
Pastor Benson Sam, the family members of Pastor Benson Sam and a few
others were brutally attacked with the intent of killing them while
they were on their way back after the end of the first days' convention
along with some of the participants of the Convention.
3. The attackers were identified
as RSS members of the local RSS Shakha. They initially threw bombs to
scare the people and prevent them from coming near the scene of the
attack. They then beat Bishop Cooper, Pastor Benson and the others who
were along with them. As far as the other followers of the Church were
concerned some of them after realizing as to what was happening got
scared and went inside their homes while others rushed to help those
who were being attacked. The RSS attackers in the meantime had beaten
up Pastor Benson, Bishop Joseph Cooper and the other very badly. The
injured people tried reaching the vehicle so that they could reach the
hospital. But as the tyres of the vehicle had been
deflated by the attackers the injured could not reach the hospital.
Hence the injured somehow managed to call up the local Kilimanoor Police
station and reported the matter and also asked for help. The police
came at around 9:30 PM and took the injured to the Medical College Hospital.
4. Following the police action
of arrests, there were attempts by RSS and Sangh Parivar to cajole the
witnesses as well as to threaten them. They were approached by a batch
of Sangh Parivar with promises of constructing latrine and providing
them ration and other facilities from "Central Government".
According to David, on the following days of the attack, RSS people
used to come at night by blowing whistle and creating commotion which
instilled fear which forced many of them not to sleep in their thatched
huts. Nalinakshan said that the RSS activists also pelted stones at
some of the houses of Vedars. The fear psychosis prevailing in
the area was quite visible even one week after the attack since the
local people, particularly the terrified Vedars, were unwilling to say
anything. However, Vidhyadharan, father of the 13th accused Koppam Shaiju,
along with a few others went to the house of Kunjumon, the prime witness
and victim of the attack, on January 17 around 1.00 pm and threatened
him with dire consequence if he dared to give evidence in the Court.
Upon
Kunjumon's complaint, a case was registered (Cr. No. 23/2003 u/s 481,
506(2), and 34 IPC on the same day against Vidhyadharan, one Unni and
four others. Accordingly, Vidhyadharan was arrested on January 19.
5. From our fact-finding
it is very clear that this is the first time that such an incident has
taken place in this area which is not known for any communal tension
so far. Prior to this no incident of communal disharmony have ever been
reported from this area. Compared to North India, Kerala has a novel
historical background to where both Christianity and Islam reached,
peacefully without any violence, almost at the same time it spread respectively
in Europe and Arab peninsula. Kerala's history also records the peaceful
co-existence of Keralites with foreigners - whether Jews, Arabs or Europeans
- who came here for trade and commerce. Keralites also have the inborn
tendency to go anywhere in the world as well as to co-exist with the
local populace there. A month before the RSS attack on Rev. Cooper,
which led to his controversial expulsion from India, the President of
India, Dr. Abdul Kalam, inaugurated the 1950th anniversary of the arrival
of St. Thomas to Kerala. Given this background, the malicious campaign
and unfounded allegations showered upon
Rev. Cooper not only by Sangh Parivar, but also by responsible
Union Ministers, shockingly evoked no protests from Kerala Government.
6. The murderous attack on Rev. Cooper and other Evangelist Missionaries
on January 13 were a result of well-planned conspiracy hatched up at
the RSS Sakha meeting on the same day morning. Deflating of the car
tyres before launching the attack is a clear indication of this.
7. The fact finding team
tried its best to identify whether there could be any other reason for
this attack and finally has concluded that the only plausible reason
for this attack had been to use the occasion of the "Convention"
organized by the Friends of Bible Church in which it was earlier mentioned
that Rev Cooper would be participating.
8. Following the attacks
there were rumors that during the Convention the people who were presiding
over the meeting had made provocative statements regarding Lord Krishna.
Our finding clearly proves that this was not true. No such statements
had ever been made by the members of the Friends of Bible Church at
any point of time during the Convention. There was no truth in the propaganda
that Cooper or others had made derogatory statements to hurt the religious
feelings and sentiments of others. The very fact that, none from the
colony within the hearing distance of the speech had participated in
the attack is evident. On the other hand,
that all the RSS attackers were mobilized from other areas and localities
show that there was much advance preparation and a conspiracy to launch
the attack even without hearing, or getting provoked by, the so-called
derogatory speeches.
Further, the Judicial First
Class Magistrate, Attingal Mr. Murali Gopala Pandala, had dismissed
the criminal case filed against Rev Cooper due to the petitioner's failure
to prove that Cooper's speech hurt religious sentiments. Pointing out
the petitioner's inability to produce the cassette of the speech, the
Court also said that the petitioner could not understand what Cooper
spoke in English due to his ignorance of English language. This enables
the fact finding team to strengthen its findings in this regard as well.
9. There also had been extensive
rumors ( which the team witnessed in the local newspapers ) that the
Prime Minister's Office had issued a notice that Bishop Cooper had made
provocative statements regarding Lord Aiyyappan. These too were false
as the Fact Finding team got cross checked with the PMO that they had
never issued any such statement.
10. Local non-Christian respondents
also denied all these allegations attributed to Rev. Cooper's speech.
According to Rajan, there was nothing derogatory in Cooper's English
speech translated into Malayalam by Pastor Benson. This was also concurred
by Rajendran saying there was no provocative speech at the Convention.
According to Pastor Benson, the main speaker of that day was Pastor
Jaison while Rev. Cooper spoke only for 20 minutes about Jesus and not
about any other religion. Rev. Cooper himself told this team members
while convalescing at KIMS hospital: "I know only Jesus Christ
and I talk only about Him. Also, I explain as to how I became a missionary.
I also provide healing touch relief to the needy." Cooper said
that he belongs to the Association of Pastors and not to any particular
Christian denomination. He had been visiting India
since 1979, mainly to Andhra and Kerala, and this was his 12th trip.
He visits different countries as well upon invitation from his friends.
But, this was the first time that he had to face such a physical assault.
11. The team also concludes
that the intention of the members of the Friends Bible Church was never
to coerce anyone to Convert to Christianity. In fact it can be easily
said that no conversions or for that matter re-conversions had ever
taken place in the area for quite some time and this is also public
knowledge and acknowledged by members of other faiths as well in the
area.
12. The Kerala State Government's
action of serving the expulsion order to Rev. Cooper was a highly detrimental
act against all basic norms and tenets of a democratic and secular society.
Evidently, this action came after demands made by RSS leaders, from
the State to the Central level, in an apparent attempt to satisfy them
as well as to make a posture of "impartiality" or "equi-distance"
between the attackers and the victims.
The ambiguity in visa rules
is further illustrated in the rival Mujahid Conferences held at Kozhicode
and Cochin in December 2002, in which a large number of foreign delegates,
especially from Arab countries, addressed the gathering about their
religion. Action similar to that initiated against Rev. Cooper by Thiruvananthauram
Rural Superintendent of Police was not initiated against any of these
foreign delegates. The team wonders whether it was because none of them
were physically assaulted by an RSS gang? A more evident example is
the presence of large number of foreigners, both male and female, remaining
for longer years almost as
permanent inmate-devotees at Mata Amrithananadamayi Ashram at Vallikkavu
in Kollam district, who used to accompany the Mata and occupy the stage
along with her as well as sing prayers wherever she goes. It is not
known how many of them are on "religious visa". Astonishingly,
no investigation is being held whenever such foreigners die under mysterious
circumstances within that Ashram. A recent instance was of the suspicious
death of a French national, Ms. Caroline Abitbole, who claimed to have
committed suicide by jumping from the 8th floor on August 5, 2002, and
her body was found with head severed. Although the CHRO initiated petitions
seeking a probe, including to the French Ambassador at New Delhi, no
inquiry was known to be held by them or the State Government.
Similarly, the Central Government
owes an explanation as to how the "Hare Rama Hare Krishna"
sect with Head Quarters at Kolkota and comprising mostly foreigners
are holding open "Bhajan Yatras" in big major North Indian
cities ever since its inception decades ago. Similarly, there was no
ban imposed on Dalai Lama preaching his religion ever since India gave
the Tibetans refuge in 1959, which earned repeated diplomatic protests
from China as violation of the 1954 Bandung Declaration. Also, when
Rev. Cooper was ordered to leave India upon Central directives, Dalai
Lama, along with the Karmapa Ugyen Trinley Dorji, who heads another
Buddhist sect, was leading the ten-day `Kalchakra Puja' festival and
prayers at Bodh Gaya, Bihar, in which large number of Buddhists
from different countries participated. There was also a move to confer
India's highest civilian award, "Bharat Ratna", upon Dalai
Lama which invoked protests from All India Monks Association led by
Bhante Anand, who were also opposed to the holding of "Kalachakra"
festival by Dalai Lama. Similar to Mata Amrithanandamayi Ashram in Kerala,
a large number of foreign devotees remain as permanent inmates at Prashanthi
Nilayam, the abode of Sai Baba at Puttapparthi in Anantapur district
of
Andhra Pradesh, whose visa status are not made public.
The team would like to therefore
conclude that in the context of all these contradictory stances of the
Government, both State and Central, it is necessary to assert the provisions
of the Article 25 of the Indian Constitution, namely, Freedom of Conscience
and free profession practice and propagation of religion which states
:-
"Subject to public
order morality and health and to other provisions of this part, all
persons are equally entitled to freedom of Conscience and the right
freely to profess, practice and propagate religion"
And the provisions of Article
18 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights which reads : "Every one has the right to freedom of thought,
conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion
or belief, and freedom; either alone or in community with others and
in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching,
practice, worship and observance.
The provisions of Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights ( ICCPR) which reads :
1. "Every one shall
have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This
right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief
of his choice and freedom, either individually or in community with
others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief
in worship, observance, practice and teaching.
2. No one shall be subject
to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion
or belief of his choice.
3. Freedom to manifest one's
religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed
by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health, or
morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.
4. The States Parties to
the present Covenant undertake to have respect for the liberty of parents
and, when applicable, legal guardians to ensure the religious and moral
education of their children in conformity with their own convictions.
And the provisions of Article
30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child which reads, "In
those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or
persons of indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority
or who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with
other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture,
to profess and practice his or her own religion, or to use his or her
own language.
The application of the "special visa norms" in the case of
Rev Cooper alone in such a hurry so as to ensure that the only person
with the evidence of misuse of the provisions of the Foreigners Act
points out to the arbitrariness of the use of any such legislation and
indicates that there is no evidence that this has not been done with
political interest. The team is further of the opinion that similar
to the government's "special visa norms" in Kerala, the RSS
has also got their own "special agenda" applicable only to
Kerala.
13. Compared to North India, Kerala has a novel historical background
to where both Christianity and Islam reached, peacefully without any
violence, almost at the same time it spread respectively in Europe and
Arab peninsula. Kerala's history also records the peaceful co-existence
of the people of the State of Kerala with foreigners - whether Jews,
Arabs or Europeans - who came here for trade and commerce. The people
of Kerala also have the inborn tendency to go anywhere in the world
as well as to co-exist with the local populace there. A month before
the RSS attack on Rev. Cooper, which led to his controversial expulsion
from India, the President of India, Dr. Abdul Kalam, inaugurated the
1950th anniversary of the arrival of St. Thomas to Kerala. Given this
background, the malicious campaign and unfounded allegations showered
upon Rev. Cooper not only by the RSS and the Sangh Parivar, but also
by responsible Union Ministers, shockingly evoked no protests from the
Kerala Government.
14. The fact finding team is of the opinion that the very provocative
statements that have appeared in the RSS Malayalam journal,
" Janmabhoomi" from the 15th January 2003 onwards is further
indicative of the role of the RSS and hence the Sangh Parivar in the
incidents that have been mentioned supra and the need therefore for
every secular minded and anyone conscious about preserving the democratic
polity and peace in the country to prevent the "Gujaratisation
of Kerala", especially since the recent BJP State Council meeting
at Kanjagad declared to pursue vigorous Hindutva agenda as its future
goal in Kerala.
15. There is sufficient evidence in the form of press briefings and
statements by Ministers of the Government of India, occupying responsible
positions representing the BJP / NDA Ministry, where they have uttered
baseless, untrue and hundred percent lies on the Cooper incident. These
false allegations themselves could be responsible for fuelling communal
tensions. It is worth mentioning the names of the following Ministers
for the statements that have been attributed to them: i) Mr.Ch. Vidya
Sagar Rao, Minister of State for Home, GOI ; and ii) Mr. O. Rajagopal,
Minister of State for Urban Development, GOI;
For example, Mr. Rao has
stated, "The action taken by the Kerala Police asking Mr. Cooper
to leave the country within a week would send the right signal that
the country would not be soft on foreigners who violated the laws of
the land. All the States have the power to trace foreigners who overstayed
and deport them. Any foreigner can be deported for carrying on activities
prejudicial to the interest of the country, or affected social harmony
or a threat to maintenance of public peace. The Centre is constantly
sharing intelligence with the States, especially on visitors who
overstayed or had entered the country illegally and indulged in such
acts" ("The Hindu", January 22, 2003).
Mr.Rajagopal has stated,
"The State Government should explain for its failure to take action
against the US missionary. The missionaries were making despicable remarks
on Hindu deities like Lord Krishna and Ayyappa. The missionaries are
working in connivance with the State. The people will be forced to react
if such actions go unchecked." Terming BJP's "landmark victory"
in Gujarat as the "beginning of political changes in the country",
he asked the Kerala Government to bring a legislation to ban religious
conversion and said : "The Kilimanoor incident, in which an American
missionary was assaulted, is an indication of how the people would react
to religious conversions".
The team finds it pertinent
to point out that there is no evidence that Rev Cooper or the others
with him were carrying on activities prejudicial to the interest of
the country, or affected social harmony or a threat to maintenance of
public peace. While so, a statement from a Central Minister to this
effect is grossly a mistake which calls for nothing short of an apology.
The statement of Mr. Rajagopal
to the effect that missionaries were making despicable remarks on Hindu
deities like Lord Krishna and Ayyappa, that missionaries are working
in connivance with the State and that the people will be forced to react
if such actions go unchecked only point out to the indication that even
Central Ministers are indirectly supporting the acts of violence unleashed
on Rev Cooper and the others by the RSS gang members in Kilimanoor.
This also offers a clear indication of what the position of the Central
Government is on the issue and how they themselves indirectly condone
the violence.
16. The Chief Minister of
Kerala, Mr. A. K. Anthony, a representative
of the Congress party which professes to uphold secularism throughout
the country as opposed to the BJP has stated "We have behaved in
an impartial manner whether it is the attack on the missionary or the
visa violation by the latter." The team holds that such a manner
of governance on the part of the Chief Minister is not indicative of
impartiality but on the contrary of the Government's total inability
to tackle such serious threats to secularism . The Chief Minister has
so easily given in to the directives of the Central Government resulting
in the expulsion of Rev Cooper from Indian
soil based on totally false allegations, without providing him an opportunity
to weigh the evidence in his favour and ensuring whether there was any
realistic threat to the freedom of religion that was involved.
17. The team is of the strong
opinion that when a citizen of India owing allegiance to a particular
faith has the right to go to the United States of America or any other
country and establish places of worship and participate in public religious
discourses, Rev Cooper who came to Kilimanoor only to bear a testimony
and pray for the sick, has every right to do so since the same is protected
by the universally accepted right to freedom of religion which is universal
in nature.
RECOMMENDATIONS :
I. To the Government of
Kerala:
i. We demand that the Government
of Kerala immediately initiate criminal action against RSS Malayalam
organ Janmabhoomi for many of its false and baseless content with regard
to "Cooper incident". These have been made with the sole intention
of causing communal tension in highly literate state of Kerala.
ii. We demand that the case
in crime No.19/2003 of Kilimanoor police station be handed over, for
further investigation and filing of charge sheet, to a highly specialized
investigation wing of Kerala police so that Junior police officers are
not pressurized with the investigation of such a sensitive case involving
Central Government.
iii. We demand that the Hon'ble
Chief Minister of Kerala Mr. A.K.Antony, who owes an allegiance to the
Congress party, which publicly and nationally profess to uphold secularism
as opposed to the BJP Government, to publicly make known the contents
of the "Cooper expulsion order" issued to Rev. Cooper under
provisions of the Foreigners Act. The highly literate secular public
of Kerala and the rest of the country have a right to know the basis
of this order, in order to appreciate the statement made by various
Ministers both of the State Government of Kerala and Central Government.
iv. We demand that the accused
No.1 in crime No.19/2003 of Kilimanoor police station Mr. Sunil Kumar
and the rest of the accused be immediately arrested without any further
delay whatsoever, as delaying in arrest will only lend support to the
version that the Government of Kerala is hand in gloves with the Sangh
Parivar's agenda of providing protection to the accused in Cooper's
case.
v. We demand that the Government which hurriedly ensured the expulsion
of Cooper should now take responsibility to ensure the presence of Cooper
for the trial of the case in Crime No.19/2003 which should be completed
expeditiously.
vi. We demand that the Government
of Kerala immediately ensure that the people of Puliyam village in Thiruvananthapuram
district are provided immediate security and ensured that they are not
subjected to any further harassment from RSS and Sangh Parivar.
vii. We demand that the Government
of Kerala provide public evidence of the fact of overstay of Rev Cooper
who according to the team was on a valid 10 year multiple entry visa.
viii. We appeal that all political parties in Kerala, who stand by secular
content of the preamble to our Constitution and who uphold Articles
25 and 26 of the Constitution, to jointly bring a resolution in the
Kerala State Assembly condemning the incident, condemning Central Ministers
for the irresponsible, baseless statements about the incident and to
demand immediate intervention of the State Human Rights Commission of
the State of Kerala in this incident.
II. To the Central Government:
1. We demand an apology from Thiru Ch.Vidyasagar, Hon'ble State Minister
for Home and Thiru O.Rajagopal, Hon'ble State Minister for Urban Development
for their irresponsible, baseless and 100% bunch of lies issued in the
form of press statement. Nothing short of an apology would suffice for
such statements coming from persons to whom this country has entrusted
important portfolios of governance.
2. We demand the Right to Information, which is now a fundamental right
that the Government of India makes public the 1995 order which, it claims,
restrains foreign citizens visiting India on tourist visas from preaching
in religious meetings.
III. National Human Rights
Commission / Kerala State Human Rights Commission:
1. We demand that the National
Human Rights Commission take suo motu attention of the attack on Rev.
Cooper and others as a human rights violation and deputes one of its
Special Rapporteur to conduct investigation so that the right to freedom
of religion which is one of the liberties guaranteed under the Constitution
and which falls within the definition of human rights under Section
2 of the Human Rights Protection Act is safeguarded from being transgressed.
We urge that the state of Kerala, within whose jurisdiction this gruesome
attack has taken place threatening the life of Rev. Cooper and others
immediately, order the State Government of Kerala through an interim
order of the National Human Rights Commission, to meet all the medical
expenses of all the injured including Rev. Cooper and later recover
it from the accused who were responsible for the same.
IV. UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance:
We appeal to Mr. Abdelfattah AMOR, the UN Special Rapporteur on
Freedom of Religion or Belief to personally take note of this case as
a very serious indication of the extent of religious intolerance prevailing
in so called secular State of Kerala and urge him to address the Government
of India on the same.
V. Civil Society:
We demand that all civil
society organizations in the State of Kerala within India and abroad
including NRI Community take very serious note of this incident and
realize that it is only action for the protection of secularism that
could prevent such communal forces from disrupting peace. No amount
of silence or prayer will bring solutions to issues. It is protests,
struggles, articles, statements, denouncements and such acts by several
people, in the individual capacity and as belonging to different organizations,
which will contribute to maintaining the thin fabric of secularism that
still prevails in this country of India. It is such internal vigil by
civil society organizations the world over which will protect the freedom
of religion which is an universally acknowledged and granted human rights.
VI. The US Government
:
We demand that the US Government,
all its Senators and Congressmen
who uphold the freedom of religion with so much sanctity in their country
since the right to freedom of religion and religious beliefs is universally
applicable, take this case of Rev Cooper as a serious violation on the
part of the Government of India and raise the issue both diplomatically
and publicly.
for CHRO
Mukundan C. Menon
Secretary General
CHRO
3, Rams' Cottage
Ambalathumukku
Pettah
Thiruvananthapuram-695 024
(Ph.: 0471-2476262)