Catholic priest arrested on false ‘conversion’ charges in Jhabua, later released on bail

New Delhi – Hindu extremism reared its ugly head once again when a Catholic priest of Jhabua district, Madhya Pradesh, was arrested on false accusations of converting tribals, Christian Today has confirmed. However, he was released on bail soon after.

Fr. PT Thomas, parish priest of Jhapadra, Jhabua Diocese, Madhya Pradesh, who was working in that region for the last 21 years, was arrested on July 21 on the basis of a complaint made by one Rusmal, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activist that the priest was forcibly converting innocent Hindu tribals.

Fr. Thomas was arrested under the provisions of Section 3 of the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act 1968, which prohibits forcible conversion or attempt to convertion by ‘force or allurement’.

According to the affidavits filed by Rusmal, his brother, Panchayat president Mr. Balu Humji Charpotta and six others, in the court of Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) in the nearby town of Thandla on July 8, Fr. Thomas had demanded a huge amount of school fees from them for admitting their wards in a Catholic school by the name of St. Michael’s school. However, when the priest came to know of their inability to pay the high fees, he promised them that ‘no fees would be charged to them if they became Christians.’

According to the affidavit, when the complainants refused to become Christians, their children were denied admissions.

Christian Today has confirmed that on June 25, Rusmal had met Fr. Thomas and had accused him of charging exorbitant fees. The priest was also threatened that further action against him would be decided in the RSS meeting and he “can forget about continuing in Jhapadara.”

The Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) has, however, claimed that the allegation of conversion was a mere pretext to intimidate and persecute the innocent priest.

According to the information gathered by the CBCI, the accusers had never come to the priest for admission as the admission is done by the Headmistress, Sr. Pratima and other class teachers.

Christian Today has obtained information from the CBCI that Fr. Thomas was not involved in the admission process and, in fact, the wards of most of the complainants were already studying in the school for many years and the others had already admitted their children before July 1. This year too, all of them had come and paid the fees of the children and they were already attending the classes from July 1 and their children have continued to attend the classes till date.

On the basis of a complaint filed by Rusmal, a local police inspector had come to the school searching for Fr. Thomas, but since he was out of station, the police officer had asked the sisters to inform him and to report to the police station the following morning.

The following day, Fr. Thomas went to the Police station along with Fr. Mathias Bhuria the Vicar General of the diocese and Mr. Peter Baberia, a local Christian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and was reportedly advised by the police officials to settle the matter amicably in the village.

However, soon thereafter, the Block Education Officer (BEO) of Meghnagar came to the school, accompanied by Rusmal, his brother and a few others. According to news reports, they refused to meet Fr. Thomas and after inspecting the school records and taking the statement of Sr. Pratima, they left.

Subsequently, on July 11, Fr. Thomas received a show–cause notice served by the SDM, Thandla, based on the report of the BEO, stating that many irregularities were found in the school reports. The notice especially pointed out to the disparity in the fees collected from the Christian and non–Christian students of the Kindergarten (KG) class.

On July 12, Fr. Thomas approached the SDM with an application requesting him for the copies of the complaints but was refused. On the other hand, the SDM persuaded the Catholic priest to give an interim reply to the charges against him and fixed July 15 as the date for the final reply. Meanwhile, on July 13, the same SDM reportedly approached Fr. Thomas and told him that the District Collector had asked the priest to go out of station for a few days as the complainants were hatching some plan, which, however, he did not specify. Following the advice of the SDM, the priest gave an application to postpone the date for filing the reply (which was fixed for July 18) and he left the town.

According to news reports, on July 16, the Collector had instructed the SDM to file a First Information Report (FIR) with the local police against the accused priest who was “absconding”. On July 17, the FIR was registered under Section 3 of the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act 1968. The diocesan officials were informed that though the priest had to be arrested, the offence was bailable.

Meanwhile, a police team confiscated all the records of the KG section of the school as evidence against the priest.

On July 18, a formal reply to the show cause notice was filed in the office of the SDM and three days later, on July 21, Fr. Thomas was arrested. He was granted bail almost immediately, however.

“The charges are absolutely baseless," Fr. Thomas said. “They are motivated to trap me for not succumbing to the pressures of the complainants.”

In spite of the press releases issued by the diocese who claimed that the accusations were baseless and the priest was innocent, the local media blew the matter out of proportion, accusing the priest of forcible conversion.

According to news sources, the media reports were largely influenced by the controversial and baseless report prepared by former director–general of police, Narendra Prasad, on the communal violence in Jhabua last year. The report of Prasad that was published in the newspapers on July 11, has alleged that “huge conversions” in Jhabua were widening the rift between the Hindu and Christian communities and were leading to communal tension.

The Jhabua violence, which resulted in the burning of three churches, illegal detention of 11 Christians since January 2004 until date, and the torching of houses of 15 Christian families, was ignited by the rape and killing of a 9–year old girl within a church compund in Jhabua on January 11, 2004. However, subsequently, police investigations revealed the rapist and the murderer was a Hindu.

Several churches, Christian advocacy groups and organizations, including the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) and the CBCI, had strongly condemned the “irresponsible” report of Prasad and have accused it of fanning communal violence in the already tense town (read article: EFI questions “irresponsible” report prepared on Jhabua incident. link: http://in.christiantoday.com/news/nat_746.htm).

Following the arrest of Fr. Thomas, the Christian community of Jhabua had expressed their solidarity and had furnished a memorandum to the local administration, demanding the dismissal of the false case against the priest. The memorandum also demanded that a strong action be taken against those who harass the Christian community and their institutions which are rendering selfless service in the area of education, health care and community development in the district.

According to Bishop Chacko Thottumarickal of Jhabua Diocese, the situation was "normal externally," but he had no information on what is going on "behind the curtain."

The Church is prepared to "face the music as it occurs," he said.

According to the prelate, his people have been advised not to get provoked and to refrain from all forms of violence. The Church does not believe in retaliation and will take "legal course to deal with such incidents," he said.

Madhya Pradesh is one of the strongholds of Hindu fundamentalists in India. Till date, only four states in India have passed laws to combat “unethical” or “forced” conversions. Madhya Pradesh passed the first definitive anti–conversion law in 1966; Orissa in 1967; Arunachal Pradesh in 1978; and Tamil Nadu in October 2002. However, Tamil Nadu scrapped its anti–conversion laws following the defeat of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. Presently, the government of Gujarat, too, is contemplating of legislating an anti–conversion law.