Plea Alleging Attacks Against Christians | Supreme Court Directs State Of Jharkhand To File Verification Report

In a plea seeking directions to stop alleged attacks against Christian priests and Christian institutions across the country, the Supreme Court bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala directed the State of Jharkhand file its verification report regarding the violence alleged in the plea. 

Earlier, the court had directed the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to obtain verification reports from 8 states, namely, Bihar, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh. The Apex Court was of the view that the collated reports would aid it in forming opinion on States' compliance with the directions issued in the judgment of Tehseen Poonawalla v. Union of India against mob violence. However, the bench was informed that all States except for Jharkhand had filed the status report.

CJI DY Chandrachud said–

"The State of Jharkhand shall comply with the order within a period of two weeks."

The PIL has been filed by Archbishop Of Bangalore Diocese Dr. Peter Machado along with the National Solidarity Forum, the Evangelical Fellowship of India.

Background

Archbishop Of Bangalore Diocese Dr. Peter Machado along with the National Solidarity Forum, the Evangelical Fellowship of India are the petitioners in the mattter. According to the petition, the present PIL has been filed against the "sinister phenomena of violence" and "targeted hate speech" against the Christian community of the country by vigilante groups and members of right-wing organisations. It submits that such violence has been rising owing to the failure of the State machinery to protect its own citizens.

The petition argues that there is failure by the Central and State Governments and other State machineries in taking immediate and necessary actions against groups that have caused widespread violence and hate speech against the Christian community including attacks at their places of worship and other institutions run by them.

The Union Government has filed a counter-affidavit stating that the claim of "Christian persecution" in India is false and alleged that the petitioners have relied upon certain biased and one-sided reports.. The Union further stated that the petitioners have projected certain cases arising out of personal disputes as communal attacks.

Case Title: Most Rev. Dr. Peter Machado And Ors. v. UoI And Ors. WP(Crl) No. 137/2022

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