The Hon’ble Mr. V.S. Acharya,
Home Minister of Karnataka,
Vidhana Soudha,
BANGALORE.
Hon’ble Home Minister,
On 26th January 2010, I undertook the painful duty of recording that during the
short tenure of under two years of the BJP Government in this State, that 500
attacks on the Christian community had taken place. The State Government is acting
in total violation of the Constitutional Mandate which guarantees freedom to practice
and propagate one’s religion and this hate campaign has official sanction. There are
organizations and institutions in this country which are maintaining a careful record of the
increase in the number of these attacks in the State of Karnataka, as also of the fact that
those involved in them are rarely arrested and even if arrested, the cases are clandestinely
withdrawn. The victims are always wrongly arrested and your Government refuses to
withdraw those cases and to crown it all, you have officially gone on record stating that
all the attackers involved in such serious offences under the IPC are political activists
according to you. This is a total aberration.
August 15, 2010 brought the number of such attacks to exactly 1000, an increase
of 500 in the last six months. The most sensational one came from your Party MLA
– Prahlad Remani who is supposed to be the BJP MLA from Khanapur in Belgaum
District.
hoisting on Independence Day. I was in Pune attending a Conference on that day and the
TV channels have shown his speech live. Among other statements, he has attacked the
The attack was made by him in the course of his official address at the flag
TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL INDIA
(Karnataka Chapter)
Christian community by stating that the British had sown the seeds of Christianity in this
country (the man requires to be re-educated because this is factually false) and that
Christianity and Christians have to be weeded out and thrown out of this country.
This is a serious offence of inciting communal disharmony along with several other allied
offences because it immediately provoked violence and tension in the whole District.
The State, in such situations is required to register an offence and immediately proceed
according to Law. This was not done.
What is most atrocious is that when several complaints were lodged with the Police
Authorities and an FIR was registered that instead of upholding the Law, the State
Government immediately transferred the SP who had very rightly taken action. This was
done by the Chief Minister and the Home Minister. This shows that the Statements made
by the MLA are officially supported by the State Government and that the subversion of
the Law and the legal process has also come from the Vidhana Soudha. The citizens of
this State are protected by the Constitution of this country and therefore, demand from the
State Government that action according to Law must follow.
:2:
In the course of the last two years, there have been a whole series of cases where the
State Government has incited, supported and shielded such communal attacks. The
record also shows that the Law has been misused not only against the victims but against
the Media whenever such cases have been highlighted and the International Human Rights
Commission and the Press Council of India have taken serious note of this. The Central
Government and the International Organizations have taken careful note of the fact that
the State Govt. spends an average of Rs.50 Crores a day on self publicity in order to
ensure that grave incidents of the present type are not reported. All these incidents are
representative of a total breakdown of the Rule of Law in this State, it is a matter of deep
regret that they have taken place even on a sacred day like August 15th and we demand
that the Rule of Law be restored.
For TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL INDIA,
(KARNATAKA CHAPTER),
(JUSTICE MICHAEL F. SALDANHA)
CHAIRMAN.
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