The top court in India’s Madhya Pra-desh has temporarily stopped the state government, run by a Hindu right-wing party, from taking over a piece of land from a Protestant mission.The Jabalpur bench of the state High Court on Oct. 7 allowed the mission of the Disciples of Christ Church in Damoh district, 15 days to file a civil suit to settle the land dispute. Navin Lall, the Church’s secretary, said the dispute over 43,560 square feet of prime property in Damoh district has been ongoing for a decade.
The land was under the Church’s control for more than 100 years before a local Hindu man accused the Church people of encroach-ing on it in 2014. He filed a court case, claiming it as government property, Lall said. The Church officials challenged the case in the High Court which suggested an out-of-court settlement between the district autho-rities and Church leaders. But the district officials let the matter drag on and a fresh case was filed against the Church officials this year. On Oct. 4, the authorities issued a notice asking the Church to remove the boundary wall of the disputed property. Later, the Church officials approached the court seeking a stay on the wall’s demolition. Suddenly, on Oct. 7, “the boundary wall was pulled down by district officials like a terrorist operation before the court started working at 10 a.m.,” Lall said. The officials acted in haste, demolishing the 4,570-meter-long wall in the morning before the top court could take up the Church’s petition seeking a stay on its demolition. The case was listed as a priority, Lall said. “The boundary wall was erected 15 years ago” and was sanctioned by local bodies, added Lall. Alok Jacob, a senior Church member, said revenue officials measured the land wrongly to make it appear like a state-owned property. Jacob said that in addition to the disputed land, officials also claimed “another half acre of mission land. “Right-wing “Hindu groups had publicly threatened to pull down the boundary wall if the government failed to do so,” Jacob said. Lall said they plan to file a “complaint before the appropriate authority well before the 15-day deadline ends.” He said “even revenue records were manipulated” to claim the land.
Christian leaders accused the state government of the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and right-wing Hindu groups of harassing them for their faith. Christian schools, hostels, and orphanages were targets of attacks from government bodies such as child rights panels and police with allegations of religious conversion, which is banned in Madhya Pradesh under a sweeping law, Christian leaders noted. Bishops, priests, nuns, pastors, and people working in Christian institutions are implicated in several cases in Madhya Pradesh, led by Mohan Yadav of the BJP. Christians make up a mere 0.27 percent of the state’s 72 million people, while Hindus make up 80 percent.