Attacks on Christians in India highest in 2022: UP, tops list of most attacks; Chhattisgarh follows
Tamil Nadu, Karnataka top among South Indian states
New Delhi: A survey conducted by the United Christian Forum (UCF) has concluded that the violence against Christians in India peaked in the year 2022. The survey has also revealed most cases of this violence were reported in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
According to the findings released on November 26, until November 21 this year, there were about 511 cases of violence that were reported against the Christians in the country. The numbers are slightly more than the 505 cases of violence against the community that were reported in 2021.
The report is based on the information collected by the UCF helpline, a toll-free number that was launched in January 2015 to help victims get access to legal remedies. The report has also compiled incidents that include disruption of prayers, attacks on Christians, pastors, and their kin as well as vandalization of churches.
A closer look into the findings of the UCF in the last five years shows that cases of violence against Christians are on the rise. While the number of cases in 2018 were plugged at 292, it went up to 328 in 2019. In 2020 the numbers saw a slight dip as 279 cases were reported during the COVID-imposed lockdown, the number nearly doubled up in 2021 when the country reported 505 cases followed by 511 in 2022 with one month to spare.
September reported the highest number of instances of violence against Christians this year (64). May also recorded 61 such cases.
Among the states with highest number of cases was Uttar Pradesh, with 149 cases this year followed by Chhattisgarh with 115 incidents, and Jharkhand with 48. Among the states that recorded the lowest number of such instances was Jammy Kashmir where only one case of violence against Christians was reported. Chandigarh had only one case in five years, the incident being recorded in 2019.
Among the Northeastern states, Meghalaya and Tripura had one incident each of such violence, while Assam had two.
The survey on South Indian states showed Karnataka and Tamil Nadu recording 30 incidents of violence against Christians each. In contrast, Kerala and Puducherry had no cases of attack on Christians.
This year, Andhra Pradesh had six cases, and Telangana had four. The survey showed that except in 2019, when it recorded 19 such cases, Andhra Pradesh recorded single-digit incidents in the five-year span. There were five attacks on Christians in Andhra Pradesh in 2018, eight in 2020, and six in 2022.
Telangana witnessed a fall in attack cases, from 19 in 2018 and 18 in 2019 to six, three, and four in 2020, 2021, and 2022, respectively, as per the UCF survey.
Tamil Nadu recorded 227 such cases between 2014 and 2022, with the Kongu region reporting 117 cases, which is nearly half the number of incidents of attacks on Christians. Also, while there were 48 attacks in 2018, the highest number recorded was in 2019, at 56. There were 17 and 21 cases in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
There were only three incidents of violence against Christians in Kerala in the last five years – one in 2018, and two in 2019.
Karnataka witnessed a decline in violence against Christians this year, with 30, as compared to 2021, when the state had 62 cases, which is also the highest in the South Indian states. In five years, the state had eight cases in 2018, 27 in 2019, and 16 in 2020, respectively.
Cases of such violence rose greatly in Karnataka during Christmas in 2021. A group of Hindutva vigilantes forced themselves into a Dalit household in Tumakuru to stop them from celebrating the festival. The next day, another group attacked a Dalit family in the Tukkanatti village of Belagavi, after accusing them of converting their neighbors to Christianity.
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States not empowered to take over all private properties for distribution to serve common good: SC
New Delhi (PTI): In a majority 7:2 ruling, the Supreme Court on Tuesday held that states are not empowered under the Constitution to take over all privately-owned resources for distribution to serve the "common good".
A nine-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, however, said states can stake claim over private properties in certain cases.
The majority verdict pronounced by the CJI overruled Justice Krishna Iyer's previous ruling that all privately owned resources can be acquired by the State for distribution under Article 39(b) of the Constitution.
The CJI wrote for himself and six other judges on the bench which decided the vexed legal question on whether private properties can be considered "material resources of the community" under Article 39(b) and taken over by State authorities for distribution to subserve the "common good".
It overturned several verdicts that had adopted the socialist theme and ruled that states can take over all private properties for common good.
Justice BV Nagarathna partially disagreed with the majority judgement penned by the CJI, while Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia dissented on all aspects.
The pronouncement of judgements is underway.
The top court had, in the Minerva Mills case of 1980, declared two provisions of the 42nd Amendment, which prevented any constitutional amendment from being "called in question in any court on any ground" and accorded precedence to the Directive Principles of State Policy over the fundamental rights of individuals, as unconstitutional.
Article 31C protects a law made under Articles 39(b) and (c) empowering the State to take over material resources of the community, including private properties, for distribution to subserve the common good.
The top court had heard 16 petitions, including the lead petition filed by the Mumbai-based Property Owners' Association (POA) in 1992.
The POA has opposed Chapter VIII-A of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) Act. Inserted in 1986, the chapter empowers State authorities to acquire cessed buildings and the land on which those are built if 70 per cent of the occupants make such a request for restoration purposes.
The MHADA Act was enacted in pursuance of Article 39(b), which is part of the Directive Principles of State Policy and makes it obligatory for the State to create a policy towards securing "that the ownership and control of the material resources of the community are so distributed as best to subserve the common good".
