India Urged to Uphold Genuine Religious Freedom

Fast Summary:

• Event: A national seminar titled “Religious Freedom in India: Reality or Dream?” was held at the Centenary Baptist Church in Hyderabad on Saturday. It was organized by the Civil Rights Initiative Internationale (CRII).
• Speakers: former civil servants, advocates, legal experts, adn policymakers participated, including K. babu Rao (former IPS officer) and Minnie Mathew (former Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh). Advocates Tehmina Arora and Franklin Thomas Caesar joined remotely from Delhi.
• Key Concerns Raised:

– Increasing cases of violence against Christians.
– Allegations of misuse of laws to target Christian communities, including anti-conversion laws.
– Challenges faced by Dalit christians and Muslims due to the 1950 Presidential Order that denies Scheduled Caste status to Dalit converts outside Hinduism.
– Reports cited incidents from Chhattisgarh-where over 500 people were booked during prayer-and Uttar Pradesh-where a birthday cake-cutting ceremony was allegedly mischaracterized as a Christian ritual.

• Highlight moment: K. Babu Rao shared a case involving an Adivasi pastor’s son struggling for burial rights in his village graveyard and called for constitutional religious freedom protections.
• Book Release: Journalist Suresh Pulugujju’s book Swechha Nunchi Cherasala Loki (“From Freedom to Prison”) was released during the event.

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