The Delhi High Court on June 13 refused to stay the interview process for admission of Christian students in Delhi University’s St Stephen’s college.

The court said it did not consider it appropriate to stay the interview process.

“I am not inclined to grant the stay…. I do not consider it appropriate to stay the interview process. They are seeking to maintain their institution as they want it to be,” Justice Anu Malhotra said.

The interview process is scheduled to commence later.

The court was hearing a petition filed by three teachers of the college against the inclusion of a member of the institution’s Supreme Council in the interview panel for the selection of Christian students.

The teacher-members of the college’s governing body — N P Ashley, Abhishek Singh and Nandita Narain — have challenged a decision taken by the Supreme Council at its meeting on March 12.

The teachers, represented in the court by advocate Sunil Mathew, said it was decided at the meeting to have an additional Christian member nominated by the Supreme Council or the governing body to be part of the interview panel in respect of admission of Christian students in all subjects.

The Supreme Council is higher in authority than the governing body of the college comprising members from the Church of North India and also those nominated by it. The teachers contended that the “interference” of the church in the admission process was against the norms of the college.

However, the college, in its response, claimed that the petition was not maintainable as neither any fundamental right nor any statutory or legal right of the petitioners was violated.

A human rights group in Jharkhand, eastern India, has condemned what it called repeated raids on Jesuit social activist Father Stan Swamy.

“The raids and arrests are part of the government’s growing attempts to stifle dissent and intimidate those who are fighting for justice,” the Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (Grand council of people’s rights in Jharkhand) said on June 12 soon after the police raid.

An eight-member team of the Maharashtra police raided the Bagaicha campus, the 83-year-old priest’s residence at Namkum near Ranchi, the Jharkhand State Capital. The raid that started at 7:15 am continued for 3.5 hours.

The Maharashtra police had earlier raided the priest’s residence on August 28, 2018.

In the latest raid, the police searched the priest’s belongings and took his computer hard disk and internet modem and forced him to give his email and Facebook passwords. Thereafter, they changed the passwords and seized these accounts.

“The Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha condemns repeated raids on Stan Swamy and arrests of other human rights activists,” the statement said.

Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore on June 11 expressed deep sorrow over the passing away of Girish Karnad, a legendary playwright, actor and social activist.

“We have lost a legend in field of literature and arts. Truly our cultural world is poorer today,” Archbishop said in his condolence message.

The archdiocese later stated that the Catholic bishops of Karnataka with the entire Christian community, priests, religious and lay faithful joined the archbishop in conveying heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family.

Karnad was a man of multi-dimensional talented in nature. Theatre was his vocation. He was a prolific writer, thinker, actor, social activist, non-corrupt and fearless speaker. He also left an indelible impression on cinema, Archbishop Machado noted.

The body of Bishop Thomas Thennatt of Gwalior was on June 10 exhumed following a complaint from a Catholic woman who suspected foul play in his accidental death seven months ago.

“The police team took the body for medical examination and brought it back to the graveyard where it will be buried again,” Father Maria Stephen, the public relation officer of the Catholic Church in Madhya Pradesh, told Matters India.

“The body will be buried only after getting permission from the government authori-ties,” he added.

At the time of filing the report, the Church officials were waiting for permission from the government authorities for burial.

On May 11, Judicial Magistrate First Class Nidhi Neelesh Shrivastava, Pohari, district Shivpuri directed the police to investigate the circumstances that led to the prelate’ death and submit its report within a month.

The court order came following Dolly Theresa, a laywoman, approached the court saying she suspected foul play in the bishop’s death.

The woman alleged the diocesan authorities have restrained her from receiving Holy Communion from all churches in the diocese after she filed the petition.

“I had complained to the nuncio and the archbishop of Bhopal about the restriction imposed on me from the diocese, but to no avail,” she told Matters India.

In a rare move the Catholic bishops of India’s neighbour Myanmar have jointly demanded the complete shutdown of the China-backed Myitsone Dam on Irrawaddy river.

Charles Cardinal Maung Bo of Yangon and 18 bishops from 16 dioceses of Myanmar signed the statement after a biannual meeting held in Yangon.

In a statement released on 8 June 2019, they affirmed their constant effort to “engage in constructive dialogue with the government and all the stakeholders, firmly holding the belief that peace is possible and peace is the only way to effective nation building.”

The bishops pleaded for all dam stakeholders “to review the Myitsone Dam project in Kachin State and stop it permanently” for the sake of the country’s people.

“The River Irrawaddy runs through the heart of our nation nourishing millions of our people, flora and fauna with water for livelihood and life,” the statement said.

They also stressed people’s sentiments stating, “To the people of Myanmar, the history of River Irrawaddy is intertwined with our joys and our sorrows.”

The bishops feared the resumption of the mega dam would further displace thousands of people.

The bishops further claim that “Scientists have identified serious fault lines below the rivers’ course and building a dam might expose the lines to greater pressure and consequent mega disasters.”

They fear, “The promised economic benefits that are thought to come from the dam are no match for the social and ecological disturbances that will certainly come.”

The US$ 3.8 billion dam project on the Irrawaddy, Myanmar’s premier waterway, was being built to provide hydro-electricity that would be used almost exclusively in neighbouring China.

Spalding University, USA, has conferred an honorary doctorate on Indian nun, Sister Teresa Kotturan of Nazareth,  at the United Nations  for the Sisters of Charity Federation, on June 3.

Sister Teresa, a member of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, Kentucky, serves as the main representative for the Sisters of Charity Federation NGO at the UN.

In this role, Sister Teresa’s primary objective is to take to the global stage of the UN, the concerns of the 3,400 members of the Charity Federation and all those with whom and to whom they minister in 28 countries.

Pope Francis on May 31 appointed Father Joseph Thykkattil of the Arch-diocese of Agra as the bishop of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh.

Father Thykattil is currently the parish priest of St Peter’s Church in Rajasthan State’s Bharatpur.

This was announced at noon in Rome, corresponding to 3:30 pm in India, according to a press release from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India headquarters in New Delhi.

Jharkhand governor told that selective scrutiny of only Christian institutions is a breach of India’s constitution. Bhopal:

A Catholic delegation in India has sought the intervention of Jharkhand state’s governor to end what they describe as “selective” investigations targeting Christian organizations who receive foreign donations.

Auxiliary Bishop Telesphore Bilung of Ranchi led the four-member delegation to present a memorandum to governor Draupadi Murmu on May 24 urging her to dismiss ongoing selective investigations into Christian organizations.

The state has some 500 non-governmental organizations that receive foreign donations. However, the government ordered that only 88 Christian organizations be investigated to see if they “misuse foreign funds for religious conversion,” the memorandum said.

“The selective scrutiny only of the Christian institutions betrays not only the government’s discriminatory stance but is also a breach of the Indian constitution,” it said, seeking the governor’s intervention.

Christians say they began to be targeted after the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014. With a BJP-led government also in New Delhi, administrations have been supportive to Hindu groups working to make India a Hindu theocratic nation, they say.

Hindu groups have routinely accused Christian organizations of diverting foreign funds to use in efforts to convert socially poor tribal and Dalit people in the state.

Over the past five years the state has witnessed hundreds of attacks against Christians and numerous police charges against Christians accused of violating a state law of 2017 that restricts conversion.

The law prohibits converting a person from one religion to another using force or by means of allurement or inducement. Hindu groups have been accusing Christian organizations of misusing overseas funding for conversion under the pretext of social services.

Seven classrooms, a records room and offices of St. Joseph School in the Sugnu area of Chandel district were destroyed by an arson attack on the night of April 25 after six students were suspended for indiscipline.

“We believe this was orchestrated in retaliation to the school management’s decision to suspend six female students of grade nine,” Archbishop Dominic Lumon of Imphal told ucanews.com. The school functions under his Imphal Archdiocese that covers the entire state of Manipur.

Police investigating the case said they suspect the involvement of the powerful Kuki Student Organization (KSO), a forum of students of ethnic Kuki people, the dominant hilltribe in Manipur. Two officials of the organization have been arrested, said Jayanta Singh, inspector-general of police in the state.