The Catholic bishops in India have urged the federal and Madhya Pradesh governments to stop “the age old bogey of conversion” to repeatedly tarnish “the dedicated services” of its people.
“The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) is deeply saddened at the recent happenings in the state of Madhya Pradesh and particularly in the Catholic diocese of Jabalpur,” says a press statement issued by conference secretary general Archbishop Felix Machado of Vasai.
The May 31 appeal came a day after Bishop Gerald Almeida of Jabalpur and Sister Ligy Joseph, in charge of an orphanage, filed for anticipatory bail against their possible arrest in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The two were named in a case under the state’s stringent anti-conversion law.
The CBCI statement pointed out that the diocese of Jabalpur has witnessed the state machinery targeting three of its institutions. The first was on March 2 when members of state Commission of Child Rights and the commission’s district head visited St Joseph Boys and Girls Boarding in Ghoreghat along with some police-men. The following day, the same team visited JDES Boys and Girls Boarding at Junwani and the third incident occurred on May 29 at Asha Kiran Child Care Institute, Jhinjhari, Katni.
“What is common in all the three incidents is that the officials entered the premises without prior permission, searched the premises, took away some files and questioned the children if they were forced to go to church and if they were forced to read the Bible,” the statement explains.
The bishops’ conference points out that although the three boarding and hostels “cooperate whole heartedly in complying with all legal and government requirements,” the teams that visited them sought to unnecessarily harass the management and the children.
“They tried to make false allegations against the management and show how the children are getting converted to Christianity,” the press statement says.