UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR’S REPORT ON FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF IN INDIA
Asma Jahangir

Following an invitation by the Government of India, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief carried out a country visit to India from 3 to 20 March 2008. During her mission, the Special Rapporteur met with Government officials and political leaders as well as representatives of religious or belief communities, members of civil society and academics. In addition, the Special Rapporteur was able to collect first hand information and documents on the stage of freedom of religion or belief in India. During her visit, the Special Rapporteur spoke with representatives of various religious or beliefs communities, including Baha’is, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Humanists, Jains, Muslims, Sikhs and Zoroastrians (Parsis). Briefly listed below are some of her observations and recommendations.

Before and during her mission, the Special Rapporteur received numerous reports of attacks on religious minorities and their places of worship as well as of discrimination against the disempowered sections of the Hindu community. Organized groups claiming roots in religious ideologies have unleashed an all pervasive feat of mob violence in many parts of the country. Law enforcement machinery is often reluctant to take any action against individuals or groups that perpetrate violence in the name of religion or belief. This institutionalized impunity for those who exploit religion and impose their religious intolerance on others has made peaceful citizens, particularly the minorities, vulnerable and fearful.

Widespread violence in the Kandhamal district of Orissa in December 2007 primarily targeted Christians in Dalit and tribal communities. The Special Rapporteur received credible reports that members of the Christian community alerted the authorities and politicians in advance of the planned attacks of 24-27 December 2007. The police, too had warned Christian leaders about anticipated violence. In its report on the events of December 2007, the National Commission for Minorities confirmed that “destruction on such a large scale in places which are difficult to access could not have taken place without advance preparation and planning”.  The situation in Orissa has reportedly deteriorated again after 23 August 2008, when Swami Lakhmananda Saraswati, a local leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), and four other VHP members were killed. Although a Maoist leader had claimed responsibility and the Christian leadership had condemned the killings, organized mobs subsequently attacked Christians in Dalit and tribal communities. By the end of September 2008, more than 40 people had allegedly been killed in Orissa, over 4000 Christian homes destroyed and around 50 churches demolished. Around 20000 people were living in relief camps and more than 40000 people hiding in forests and other places. The special Rapporteur was profoundly alarmed by the humanitarian situation in relief camps where access to food, safe drinking water, medical care, proper sanitary arrangements and adequate clothing were reportedly lacking.

The Special Rapporteur is seriously concerned at the extended timeframe of investigations in cases involving communal riots, violence and massacres. The Special Rapporteur fully agrees with the analysis by the National Commission for Minorities that communal violence is not merely a “law and order” problem but has a serious socio-economic basis and ramifications.

The Special Rapporteur appeals to the Indian authorities to take quick and effective measures to protect members of religious minorities from any attacks and to step up efforts to prevent communal violence. Legal aid programmes should be made available to survivor groups and minority communities in order to effectively prosecute and document cases of communal violence.

The Special Rapporteur was also informed that when a member of a Scheduled Caste left Hinduism and converted to Christianity or Islam, the previous caste status and related social bias would often remain at the social level while the person would legally no longer be eligible to government benefits for Scheduled Castes. The Special Rapporteur would like to recall that the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination noted with concern that Dalits who convert to Islam or to Christianity to escape caste discrimination reportedly lose their entitlement under affirmative action programmes, unlike converts who become Buddhists or Sikhs.

The Special Rapporteur is deeply concerned that laws and bills on religious conversion in several Indian states are being used to vilify Christians and Muslims. The so-called “Freedom of Religion Acts” have been adopted and implemented in the states of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Similar laws have been passed but are yet to be implemented in the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. The term “force” is defined to “include a show of force or a threat for injury of any kind including threat of divine displeasure or social excommunication”. These laws carry penalties of imprisonment and fines with harsher penalties in case children, women or persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes are forcibly converted. Moreover, the terms inducement or allurement are defined to include the offer of any gift or gratification, either in cash or in kind, as well as the grant of any benefit, either pecuniary or otherwise. These broad and vague terms might be interpreted to cover the expression of many.

In addition, some provisions are discriminatory in giving preferential treatment to re-conversions, for example by stipulating that returning to the forefathers’ original religion or to one’s own original religion shall not be construed as conversion. The special Rapporteur would like to reiterate that any concern raised with regard to certain conversions or how they might be accomplished should primarily be raised by the alleged victim. Even in the Indian states which have adopted laws on religious conversion there seem to be only few – if any – convictions for conversion by the use of force, inducement or fraudulent means. In Orissa, for example, not a single infringement over the past ten years of the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act 1967 could be cited or adduced by district officials and senior officials in the State Secretariat. There is a risk that “Freedom of Religion Acts” may become a tool in the hands of those who wish to use religion for vested interests or to prosecute individuals on the ground of their religion or belief. The Special Rapporteur would like to caution against excessive or vague legislation or religious issues which could create tensions and problems instead of solving them.

The laws and bills on religious conversion in several Indian states should be reconsidered since they raise serious human rights concerns, in particular due to the use of discriminatory provisions and ague or overbroad terminology. A public debate on the necessity of such laws, more information on their implementation and safeguards to avoid abuse of these laws seem vital to prevent further vilification of certain religious communities. The Special Rapporteur is concerned that such legislation might be perceived as giving some moral standing to those who wish to stir up mob violence. She would like to emphasize that the right to adopt a religion of one’s choice, to change or to maintain a religion is a core element of the right to freedom of religion or belief and may not be limited in any way by the State. She also reiterates that peaceful missionary activities and other forms of propagation of religion are part of the right to manifest one’s religion or belief, which may be limited only under restrictive conditions.

  Asma Jilani Jahangir is a Pakistani lawyer and human rights activist. She has been the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion of Belief since 2004 (first attached to the former Commission on Human Rights, now to the Human Rights Council).

 Courtesy: Global Council of Indian Christians, February - 2007