A petition filed by a Hindu nationalist group urging the need to monitor Christian missionaries in India was dismissed by the country's Supreme Court.
The Indian Supreme Court dismissed the petition filed by Hindu Dharma Parishad (HDP) allegedly on account of suspicions that Christian missionaries were forcefully converting people into Christianity, Crux Now reported.
HDP claimed that the monitoring will "strengthen India's unity and sovereignty and stability" against "anti-social and anti-national elements," pertaining to Christian missionaries. However, the Supreme Court ruled that the Hindu nationalists were not really after the country's security but their group's own promotion. The court called it a mere "publicity interest."
"You (the petitioner) are actually disturbing the harmony with these kinds of petitions," the court said in the ruling.
Former Catholic Bishops Conference of India Spokesman Fr. Babu Joseph commended the court's ruling since it upheld the country's constitution. Joseph went on to say that the petition filed by HDP was maliciously done.
The former spokesman stressed the utmost suspicion the petition must be viewed with. He elaborated that the HDP filed it with the bad faith intention of targeting the Christian community in India "under the guise of religious conversion."
"(It) has upheld the constitution and its cherished values of according equal respect for all citizens of India," Joseph told Crux.
"It appears that some of these organizations, for whatever it's worth, have been on the prowl to pick on the Christian missionaries who have done immense good to Indians, especially those pushed to the margins of society," he continued.
As per Joseph, Christian missionaries bring dignity and honor to the victims of India's unjust social system. Joseph stressed that such an action is no crime but rather the result of "a true belief in the value of human life."
Joseph raised that instead of targeting Christian missionaries, the HDP and organizations like them should instead focus on raising the social consciousness of India's citizens. In this way, he said, HDP would help bring the realization of human equality in the country that still remains a dream for many.
Accordingly, ever since India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took governance in 2015, discrimination on religious minorities have increased. BJP has a predominantly Hindu nationalist agenda. India is 80% Hindus, which is 1.35 billion of the entire population. While Christians comprise a mere 2.3% of the population.
One of the Christian missionaries badly hit by the government was the late Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity. In 2015, the Missionaries of Charity was forced to cease all adoption because the new government have changed its adoption policies.
Last December, a ban was placed by the government that prohibited all foreign funding to be received by the Missionaries of Charity. The government said the organization failed to meet eligibility requirements for license renewal under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. But, after receiving international backlash for targeting religious organizations, the Indian government removed the ban in January.
Among those who decried the Indian government's ban is the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. The USCIRF highlighted the "hostile environment" India has nowadays when it comes to the practice of religion. The USCIRF Chair Nadine Maenza condemned the widespread harassment and discrimination religious organizations face that the government tolerates.
