SC rejects plea over hoardings 'prohibiting' entry of pastors in Chhattisgarh villages
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea challenging the Chhattisgarh High Court order in a matter pertaining to hoardings which allegedly prohibit entry of pastors and converted Christians in some villages in the state.
The high court had in October last year disposed of two separate pleas seeking removal of such hoardings.
While referring to an apex court verdict, the high court had observed that installation of hoardings for preventing forcible conversion by way of allurement or fraudulent means cannot be termed as unconstitutional.
A plea challenging the high court's order came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta on Monday.
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Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioner, referred to a separate matter relating to alleged attacks on pastors which is pending before the top court.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the plea before the high court was limited but the petitioner has now added several new facts and documents in the petition filed in the apex court.
After hearing the submissions, the bench dismissed the petition.
The high court had noted in its order that the petitioners before it were raising the alleged issue of segregation of Christian community and their religious leaders from the mainstream village community.
The petitioners had claimed before the high court that authorities had circulated a format of resolution in Kanker district instructing the Gram Panchayat to pass resolution in the name and style "Hamari Parampara Hamari Virasat".
They alleged that the real intention of circulating this circular to the Gram Panchayat was to instruct them to pass resolution prohibiting entry of Christian pastors and the so called converted Christians in the village.
The petitioners had claimed before the high court that at least eight villages of Kanker district had erected hoardings which say that entry of pastors and "converted Christians" was prohibited in the village.
The counsel appearing for the state had argued in the high court that the petitioners had filed the pleas merely on the basis of apprehension that the hoardings
were being erected at the instance of government authorities.
The high court had directed the petitioners to avail the statutory remedy before approaching the court.
"Further, in case the petitioners have any apprehension that they would be restrained from entering their villages or any threat perception exists, they may seek protection from the police," the high court had said, while disposing of the pleas.
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Over 17,000 people went missing in Delhi in 2024: NCRB
New Delhi (PTI): A total of 23,058 people, comprising 9,482 men and 13,576 women, were reported missing in Delhi in 2024, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Of the total, 5,491 were children below the age of 18 — 1,571 boys, 3,920 girls.
The city recorded 17,567 fresh adult missing persons cases in 2024, comprising 7,911 men and 9,656 women.
According to the NCRB data, released on Wednesday, 14,637 men, 18,238 women and six transgender persons were still missing from previous years.
At the latest count, in 2024, Delhi had a total of 55,939 missing persons cases — 24,119 men, 31,814 women and six transgender persons.
In 2024, police traced or collected 28,392 missing persons, including 12,182 men, 16,208 women and two transgender persons.
Only half of the men and half of the women who went missing could be traced.
A total of 27,547 missing persons – 11,937 men, 15,606 women, four transgender persons — were yet to be untraced by the end of the year, the data showed.
The data also revealed that 5,352 children from previous years remained untraced at the beginning of 2024.
The number of still missing boys was 1,621, and the number of missing girls was 3,729. Two transgender children were yet to be found.
After adding the pending cases from previous years, the total number of missing children cases handled in 2024 rose to 10,843.
The police traced or recovered 6,762 missing children — 2,030 boys, 4,732 girls.
The recovery rate stood at 63.6 per cent for boys and 61.9 per cent for girls, while no transgender child was traced.
By the end of 2024, a total of 4,081 children remained untraced, 1,162 of them boys, 2,917 girls, and two transgender children.
