PM appointed commission to investigate persecutions in Rajasthan

Jaipur – Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, has appointed a four–member commission to investigate the persecution in Kota where Hopegivers International (HI) president, Dr. Samuel Thomas and top administrative staff have been falsely accused and jailed.

"Our letter writing campaign is working," ASSIST quoted Hopegivers executive director Michael Glenn as saying. "We must continue to write and fax letters of protest this week."

“We are asking friends of human rights to fax and write letters today asking for investigators to begin examining what is going on in Kota,” he added.

Hopegivers has organized a Legal Defense Fund to help free Dr. Thomas and the staff. Hopegivers lawyers are seeking to post bond at bail hearings and make legal appeals in Kota District Court, the High Court in cities of Jaipur and in New Delhi.

Lawyers and supporters of the Hopegivers outreach to needy children are asking the central government in India to reverse a series of politically motivated attacks on the orphanages, churches, schools and the hospital operated by Emmanuel Ministries International.

According to ASSIST, the Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations in the USA (FIOCONA) has joined with thousands of Christians all over India and around the world to protest the growing persecution of religious minorities in Rajasthan and secure the release of Dr. Thomas.

Dr. Thomas has been charged under Sections 153(a) and 295(a) of the Indian Penal Code, which deal with deliberately outraging religious feelings or insulting the religious beliefs of another community.

This charge is based on his alleged role of publication of a book called "Haqiqat" authored by Kerala–based lawyer, M.G. Matthew. The book, besides being a rebuttal of another book by M.S. Golwalker, one of the founding members of the Hindu radical outfit, the RSS, also reportedly contains disparaging remarks against Hindu gods and goddesses. The book has since been banned by the state of Rajasthan.

"Nothing that my husband has done was intended to outrage or insult any other religion," said Mrs. Thomas. "This is a totally false charge and unrelated to the organized violence, threats, and attacks that have been conducted against us for the last six weeks. This is all nothing less than an organized assault on the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion that is part of India’s great democracy."

Besides arresting Dr. Thomas, the local police also revoked, without due process or hearing, all the operating licenses of Hopegivers–supported bookstores, churches, hospitals, leprosy and HIV–AIDS outreaches, orphanages, printing presses, schools and other institutions. Rajasthan’s government has also recently threatened to cut off electricity and water to the Hopegivers’ orphanage and hospital in Kota.

All of Hopegivers’ Kota bank accounts have been frozen and two of the business administrators of the mission and orphanage were arrested and have now been held for over three weeks without charge. As a result, the hospital, orphanages and schools managed by the ministry in Kota and throughout Rajasthan are operating on a cash basis and living day–to–day.

Hopegivers is the largest Christian charity in Rajasthan and has projects throughout the state working with needy children, people affected by leprosy and the poor.