Over 30 members of a carol-singing group belonging to the Saint Ephrem’s Theological College in Satna district were released from police detention on Friday after a case under Section 153 of IPC and provisions of the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 1968, was registered against the director of the college, M. George.
The Satna police had detained over 30 members of the Christian community on Thursday night when they were out on routine carol singing in the run-up to Christmas. The group was arrested on a complaint from the Bajrang Dal that they were involved in a conversion exercise.
The incident comes as the second major communal issue in just 10 days raised by the dal, a Hindu right-wing group, in Satna district. Last week, communal clashes broke out in the temple town of Maihar after members of Bajrang Dal and the Muslim community clashed over the hoisting of a religious flag. Curfew was imposed and paramilitary forces were rushed to Maihar to control the situation.
Leader of opposition Ajay Singh said “After the BJP lost the Chitrakoot Assembly bypolls, there is sudden spurt in the incidents of communal clashes. I see a trend in this to polarise communities for political gains. These incidents of violence against minorities should be taken seriously as they are hurting the peaceful social fabric of state.”
Maihar, a town famous for the ancient Sharda Devi temple is also famous for being the home to legendary musician Allauddin Khan. His classical band, Maihar Band, which produced musicians like Pandit Ravi Shankar, is part of history now.
Police said the clash erupted last week after a group of Muslims alleged that some miscreants had damaged their religious flag. While they were taking out a protest rally, some youth allegedly beat up the local Bajrang Dal leader, Mahesh Tiwari. The incident became a cause of major flare-up leading to communal violence and arson, Satna SP Rajesh Hingenkar told media.
Thursday’s incident involving the Christian community invited sharp criticism from the Archdiocese of Bhopal, which condemned the attack on the Catholic choir group and seminarians. He told media that instead of taking action against the attackers, the police detained the priest and carol singers.
However, Hingenkar said that a case had to registered on a complaint by a villager that he was forced to convert. Police claim that villagers at Bhukhar had stopped a procession of the Christmas carol group, alleging that they converted a person to Christianity by giving him money.
However, M. Rony, a priest in Satna, told media that the Diocese was running a seminary at Barakala village in Satna for the last two decades and not a single person had converted to Christianity. Another member of the Diocese said, “The group of students who had come here to get trained as priests were attacked when they were singing carols.”
Speaking on the incident, Father Varghese said, “Carol singers, accompanied by two priests, were taken to the police station on Thursday night. Later, a group of eight priests went to the police station to inquire into the matter. They were also taken into custody. Later, a mob attacked them inside the police station and set fire to a priest’s car, which was parked outside the police station.”
Archbishop Leo Cornelio has condemned the incident. Joseph Kodakallil, the bishop of Satna, said in statement that Christian communities in Madhya Pradesh are deeply shocked and saddened by the developments. He asked the government to take immediate measures to check incidents of violence against the minorities.
