Archbishop of Bombay Oswald Cardinal Gracias has said that Pope Francis is closely following the developments in the case of Jalandhar bishop Franco Mulakkal who has been arrested for allegedly raping a nun multiple times over two years. Cardinal Gracias, who is the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) issued the statement on October 5 from Rome where he is participating in the Synod of Bishops on Youth. “The Pope is awaiting the results of the police investigation. We reiterated our confidence in the judicial system of India and trust that the full truth will emerge and justice will be done for all,” he wrote. Other Indian cardinals attending the meet include George Alencherry and Basilios Cleemis. They met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and Cardinal Leonardo Santri, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches to share their thoughts on the matter of Bishop Mulakkal.

Christians in a tiny northern Indian district suffered at least 12 attacks in September that community leaders say were instigated by false accusations against missionaries over the conversion of Hindus.

Pastors were beaten up, faithful arrested and on Sept. 30 services disrupted in continuing violence allegedly carried out by Hindu groups in Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh.

The rights group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) cited “false propaganda” carried in some media outlets about claimed miracles and allurements being used by pastors to win converts.

ADF official A.C. Michael told ucanews.com on Sept. 28 that pastors were arrested like terrorists at midnight, church goers had been threatened and arbitrary restraints were imposed on Christian activities.

He said this was generating “terrific fear” in the Jaunpur district, which is about 230 kilometres southeast of the state capital, Lucknow.

The rights’ group listed 12 incidents that occurred from Sept. 5-25, including attempts to inti-midate pastors into not conduct-ing church services.

Pastor Benjamin said such incidents had increased since the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power with a Hindu monk-turned-politician, Yogi Adityanath, becoming state Chief Minister in March 2017.

Nearly 80 percentage of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state with 200 million people, are Hindus. Christians constitute only 0.18 percentage of the state’s population while Muslims number more than 19%.

  The Indian Women Theologians Forum (IWTF) has expressed solidarity with a nun who dared to complain against a bishop who allegedly had abused sexually for over a period of two years.

“We are pained that her appeals for justice in the Church were met with silence,” the forum said in a press release on October 1. It justified the nun’s move to complain to the police, saying she was “left with no option but to go to the civil authorities to seek justice.”

The forum said it was “appalled” at the way many within the Church heaped condemnation and contempt on her.

“Church leadership has failed to understand the impact sexual abuse has on a victim – the trauma that a victim had to undergo to process the abuse from someone who is a spiritual leader who takes the place of God in her life,” explains the press release signed by forum secretary Virginia Saldanha and members Kochurani Abraham and Sister Manju Kulapuram. The women theologians say they stand by the nun because the two years of sexual abuse have affected her mentally and spiritually.

Aggression and violence against Christians have been registered in recent weeks in Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India. This is what A.C. Michael, human rights activist, Christian and former member of the Indian Government’s minority commission says in an interview with Agenzia Fides. Michael states that the attacks are perpetrated by Hindu fundamentalist groups, in collaboration with local police authorities. The activist notes that in September 2018, in the district of Jaunpur, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, at least 12 incidents of violence against Christians occurred.

Some Protestant Christian Pastors were woken up in the middle of the night and arrested on false charges of “fraudulent conversions.” Roads leading to churches are controlled by the police with checkpoints. The believers are stopped and cannot go freely to church, “and the police force them to go home,” denounces A.C. Michael. Other Pastors are threatened and they have not been allowed to carry out service in church.

Among the incidents that occurred on September 5, police arrested Pastor Durga Pradesh and a crowd of 270 Christians from Jaunpur. On 11 September, after pressure from radical Hindu groups, the police arrested Pastor Rajendra Chouhan and seven other faithful, releasing them after three days. On September 13, a crowd of extremists interrupted a prayer vigil led by Pastor Ravindra. On the same day local Christian leader, Ram Milan, was beaten, and in another place, the police took into custody Pastors Ram Ratan and Thomas Osoof, who had come from Mumbai, and were leading a prayer assembly. The police also arrested Pastor Gulabchand along with three other faithful, releasing them the next day.

On 16 September, the police blocked all the roads leading to the church of Bhulandih and asked the faithful to return home, arresting four Christians and were released on bail three days later. Pastors Anil Kumar, Praduman, Deepak Kumar, Monu and Ravinder were also arrested while celebrating a religious ceremony and then released on bail on 18 September.

According to the 2011 census, Jaunpur has a population of 180,000, 88% Hindu, 12% Muslim, 0.11% Christians and other minorities. Uttar Pradesh is India’s most populous and politically important state, with a total population of 200 million.

India’s Supreme Court has asked federal and state governments to comply with its two- month-old instructions to end mob violence and lynching, which activists say shows the government’s failure to check hard-line Hindu violence.

The country’s top court on Sept. 24 asked all state governments to file action reports on its July 17 directions for governments to check mob violence, especially those linked to acts by vigilante groups protecting cows, a revered animal in Hinduism.

“There is a collapse of governance and law and order. Since the government is not taking the court direction seriously, the court has to intervene,” said Father Denzil Fernandes, director of the Jesuit-run Indian Social Institute in New Delhi.

The court directions included using media to tell masses that the street violence and mob killings will attract legal action and punishment. In order to check violence, it also asked to appoint district level police officers to stop the spread of irresponsible messages and to punish police who derelict their duty.

Rights activists in India have called for more united and coordinated work to ensure the rights of religious minorities, tribal and Dalit people.

Activists, lawyers and civil society met in New Delhi to honour Soni Sori, a tribal activist who was chosen by Ireland-based rights organization Front Line Defenders for an award this year.

“Sori has become an inspiration to fight for rights violations in India at a time when the nation is witnessing orchestrated violence against minorities,” Supreme Court lawyer and activist Colin Gonsalves told.

“We all can learn from her that if we are firm and united no forces can deny our rights.”

Sori was arrested in 2011 on charges of helping Maoist insurgents. While in custody, she was tortured and sexually assaulted by Chhattisgarh State police. By April 2013, she had been acquitted of six of eight cases against her due to lack of evidence. In 2016, unidentified men threw acid on her face.

Since her release from jail in 2014, Soni has been at the fore- front of protests against abuses committed by security forces in conflict zones in central India. She has also defended several educational centres from destruction by Maoist groups.

Prasant Bhusan, a Supreme Court lawyer, said developments in India show “there is a feeling among people that they are not safe even in their own country and there is a threat from the dominant group.”

He said those speaking for the rights of minorities are “branded as anti-national … You speak in favour of tribals and you will be associated with Maoists,” he said.

Police in India’s Uttar Pradesh State have charged more than 270 Christians with “spreading lies about Hinduism and drugging people to try and convert them to Christianity.”

Christians in Jaunpur district said on Sept. 10 that the move showed religious bias and was an attempt to terrorize Christians.

Police in the district filed the charges against 271 Christians of a Pentecostal Church after being directed to do so by a local court.

The court directive followed a complaint lodged by activist group Hindu Jagran Manch that Christians were propagating misinformation about the Hindu religion and attempting to convert people during Sunday services.

Pastors Durga Prasad Yadav, Kirit Rai and Jitendra Ram were named on the charge sheet while the others were not identified.

The Hindu group said it went to court after the Christians refused to stop conducting Sunday prayer services despite repeated warnings.