A Catholic archbishop and two groups have urged the Supreme Court of India to appoint an agency to monitor attacks against Christians in the country.
The request came from Arch-bishop Peter Macho of Bangalore, the National Solidarity Forum and the Evangelical Fellow-ship of India, who had earlier filed a petition in the apex court alleging widespread attacks against Christians in the country, reports livelaw.in.
The three also pointed out a counter report from the government has disclosed that political groups linked to it were involved in the communal crimes. Hence, the government cannot be relied upon or trusted with monitoring or reporting to the apex court, they said.
The three want the agency to effectively supervise the criminal investigations taking place in “troubled spots” in India.
The request was made in the petitioners’ rejoinder to the federal government’s counter affidavit that refuted petitioners.
The government has denied any persecution has taken place against Christians in India and alleged that the petition has relied on baseless and unverified re-ports. The petitioners, the government added, have presented certain personal disputes as communal crimes.
The petitioners disputed the government and stated that the state machinery has failed in taking immediate and necessary stringent actions against groups that caused widespread violence such as attacks at Christian places of worship and disruption of prayer meetings. The groups also indulged in hate speeches against Christians, they alleged.
The petitioners also expressed lack of confidence with the government and requested for a retired Supreme Court judge to head the monitoring agency with a mandate to appoint distinguished police officers who can effectively supervise the investigation of the cases.