Top US companies like Nike and Coca-Cola are lobbying Congress against passing a bill that will potentially prohibit broad categories of goods that were made by means of forced labour in China, particularly the Uyghur Muslim minorities, who have, for long, been facing oppression in China.
This bill is all set to be sanctioned to become a law by the leaving Trump government or the incoming Biden government, having received a vast majority of votes in favour of it since September.
Called the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the bill is being opposed by major companies like Nike, Coca-Cola and Apple Inc. It should also be noted that as per a report issued in March this year, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China had listed Nike, Coca-Cola, Adidas, Calvin Klein, Campbell Soup Company, Costco, H&M, Patagonia Tommy Hilfiger and several others as companies suspected of ties with forced labour in Xinjiang.
Xinjiang produces vast amounts of raw materials like cotton, coal, sugar, tomatoes and polysilicon, and supplies workers for China’s apparel and footwear factories. Human rights groups and news reports have linked many multinational companies to suppliers there, including tying Coca-Cola to sugar sourced from Xinjiang and documenting Uighur workers in a factory in Qingdao that makes Nike shoes.
Kavan, the Asian male elephant who recently made the headlines on account of being the loneliest elephant of the world has finally found a home in Cambodia. He was greeted on his arrival in Cambodia on Monday (November 30) by chanting Buddhist monks and was then sent on his way to a wildlife sanctuary.
Legendary American singer Cher was instrumental in his relocation from Pakistan to Cambodia. Cher spent several days in the Pakistani capital to visit Kaavan before the trip to a 10,000-hectare (25,000-acre) Cambodian wildlife sanctuary, with Prime Minister Imran Khan personally thanking the 74-year-old star. “My wishes have finally come true”, Cher said in a statement thanking her charity Free The Wild.
Kavan, a 1985 gift from Sri Lanka to Pakistan, had been living in the Marghazar Zoo in Islamabad with his partner Saheli, who died in 2012. The zoo fell on hard times and conditions got so bad that a court in the Pakistani capital ordered the zoo closed in August.
The loss of his mate Saheli took a toll on Kaavan’s mental health. Elephants are social animals that thrive on the company of other elephants, and he would spend his days throwing his head from side to side, a stereotypical sign of boredom and misery in an elephant.
Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways & Commerce and Shri. Som Prakash, Minister of State, Ministry of Commerce and Industries interacted with the representatives of Farmers Organizations of Punjab on 1st December, 2020 in Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. The Ministers again explained the benefits of Farm Reform Acts to the representatives of the Farmers’ Unions. Various issues related to Farm Reform Acts were discussed at length and talks were held in a cordial atmosphere.
The Agriculture Minister cordially welcomed the representatives of Farmers Organizations of Punjab and emphasized that the Government is fully committed towards the welfare of farmers and agriculture development is always on the top priority for Government of India. During the deliberations, the Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister proposed to constitute an expert committee to put forth the issues of farmers so as to resolve them with mutual consent but the representative of the Farmers Union suggested that all the representatives will attend further round of discussions with the Government to resolve the matter amicably.
During the interaction, it has been suggested by the Government to the representatives of Farmers Union to identify the specific issues related to Farm Reform Acts and share with the Government on 02.12.2020 for consideration. These issues will be discussed during the fourth round of meeting to be held on 03.12.2020.
It was assured that the Government of India is always committed to protect the interest of farmers and is always open for discussions for farmers’ welfare.
Abdul Rashid Shora, the father of ex-JNU student Shehla Rashid, wrote a letter to the DGP of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, alleging that she had been indulging in ‘notorious activities’, and that he had been receiving death threats from her. He lodged a complaint against her with the Jammu and Kashmir Police and urged that her bank accounts be immediately checked. It is to be noted that he is the former general secretary Jammu and Kashmir Peoples’ Movement.
He went on to claim that there had been anti-national activities going on in his house and that there had been life-threats from his family members. In his letter to the DGP, he asked for security cover, asserting that her accomplices were his elder daughter Asma Rashid, his wife Zubeida Shora and one of the security guards, Sakib Ahmad.
The letter contained an extensive account of how Shehla had received funding from Kashmir centric organisations to join hands with them, and that this money was given to her by Zahoor Watali, a Kashmiri businessman. Notably, Watali has been considered as a vital link to various organisations that promote illegal activities and has been under the radar of the NIA for quite some time.
Responding to these allegations on Twitter, Shehla tweeted saying, “Many of you must have come across a video of my biological father making wild allegations against me and my mum & sis. To keep it short and straight, he’s a wife-beater and an abusive, depraved man. We finally decided to act against him, and this stunt is a reaction to that.”
Pakistan-origin Canadian Tahawwur Rana who is one of the main conspirators of 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai could be extradited to India by a court in the United States (US).
The court has fixed 12 February 2021 as the date for the hearing on extradition of Rana for his involvement in the 2008 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack. In that attack, 166 people were killed which also included six US nationals, reports Times of India.
India declared Rana as a fugitive and sent an extradition request. He was arrested in October 2009 after another accused in the case, David Coleman Headley was arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare airport.
Rana is a childhood friend of Headley who is also known as “Dawood Gilani”. As per the details released by the federal prosecutors, the duo between 2006 and 2008 conspired with other non-state actors in Pakistan to assist Pakistan military harboured Islamic terror outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harakat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami to plan and execute the terror attack in Mumbai.
The United States later designated both the Islamic organizations as a terrorist group.
Rana who has been in a US prison for twelve years has never pleaded guilty, nor has he cooperated with the authorities. However, Headley immediately accepted his role and pleaded guilty to all the charges against him.
He later turned into a state approver in the case and is serving a 35-years prison term in a maximum-security prison in the US for his role in the attack.
Court records and interviews show that Headley served as an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) starting in the late 1990s.
As nations are now looking to have some oversight over some of the biggest social media platforms, Facebook in the United Kingdom will pay mainstream UK news outlets millions of pounds a year to license their articles.
The social network now faces the threat of a government crackdown over its dominance of online advertising that has caused damage to many legitimate news outlets that actually source stories.
As most newspapers have gone online and the sale of paper has come down, almost all British newspaper groups have signed up to the programme.
This way their articles will appear in a dedicated news section on the site and that is due to launch in January.
News that are on Facebook comes through links shared on a user’s main newsfeed and now a dedicated news tab will involve employees of the social network to select what they consider to be the main stories of the day from mainstream outlets.
In return, publishers will receive substantial cash sums and the promise of new readers.
Facebook declined to comment on the amount of money it is putting into the scheme. However, some publishers are privately expecting to make millions of pounds a year as they would probably sign the multi-year deals with the social network.
This would result in Facebook paying tens of millions in the UK alone many of struggling news outlets.
“It’s an extremely large investment and it’s something we’ve done over multiple years,” said Sarah Brown, Facebook’s head of news partnerships in northern Europe, was quoted saying in a report.
She said the curators would prioritise checks and balances associated with original reporting when choosing which stories to highlight: “Is it deeply sourced reporting, is it timely, is it offering an interesting angle, is it well sourced?”
Some of the biggest outlets that will partner with Facebook will include the Guardian, the Daily Mirror, the Independent, and major regional news publishers, and magazines such as The Economist.
However, Rupert Murdoch’s News UK and Daily Mail owner DMGT are yet to sign up.
Because of Facebook news outlets lost huge chunks in the UK advertising market. Also, in the UK Parliament, The Online Harms Bill has also been introduced. Facebook is also facing intervention from other governments over its dominance.
The Madras High Court on Monday (November 30) directed the Tamil Nadu government to furnish all the documents relating to the complaints levelled against Anna University Vice-Chancellor Surappa on Monday.
The panel that constituted of Justices N Kirubakaran and B Pugalendhi ordered to furnish all the files in connection with the case. The judges criticised the government for acting hastily in the matter without allowing Vice-Chancellor MK Surappa to answer to the allegations.
A Public Interest Litigation was filed by Manithanigai Kumar, a social worker from Kanyakumari challenging the Tamil Nadu government’s move to initiate a probe against Surappa and seeking the court to quash the G.O. passed by the state government.
The petitioner stated that Surappa had improved the quality of the education by introducing revolutionary and and reformatory steps. The petitioner went on to allege that there was a larger agenda at play and that the claims against him were made because Mr Surappa failed to accommodate the views of politicians. He stated that the Mr. Surappa had invited the state government’s wrath as he didn’t toe their line and also because he refused to promote final year students having 20 arrears that was announced by the government.
The petitioner also stated that the state government could pass the GO to initiate probe only after after a preliminary enquiry of Mr. Surappa which the government failed to do.
Though the Advocate General Vijay Narayan referred to various Supreme Court judgments and pointed out that a PIL, especially one filed by a third party, is not maintainable in a matter relating to disciplinary action against an officer, the judges opined that the same can be decided based on the merits of the case. Narayan was later allowed to furnish copies of the judgement by the apex court.
The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday (December 1) waded into the farmer’s protests that are taking place in the national capital region near Delhi.
Trudeau who was wishing Sikhs on Gurupurab or the 551st birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion from the capital Ottawa then raised his concerns about the protest by Indian farmers.
#BREAKING: Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau raises issue of protests by farmers in India. Says the situation is concerning and Canada has reached out to Indian Government through different means to raise the issue. pic.twitter.com/mShYZeKVRR
Immediately the external affairs ministry dismissed his remarks as “unwarranted” called the ongoing protest as India’s internal affairs.
Canada has a large Sikh minority community which plays an important role in electoral politics and there are also many Khalistani elements who are very much vocal.
Trudeau was participating in a Facebook video interaction organised by Canadian MP Bardish Chagger and was joined by Canadian ministers Navdeep Bains and Harjit Sajjan and members of the Sikh community.
In his opening remarks during the interaction, Trudeau said: “I would be remiss if I didn’t start also by recognising the news coming out of India about the protest by farmers. The situation is concerning and we’re all very worried about family and friends. I know that’s a reality for many of you. Let me remind you, Canada will always be there to defend the right of peaceful protest. We believe in the importance of dialogue and that’s why we’ve reached out through multiple means directly to the Indian authorities to highlight our concerns.”
However, the external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said in a brief statement: “We have seen some ill-informed comments by Canadian leaders relating to farmers in India. Such comments are unwarranted, especially when pertaining to the internal affairs of a democratic country.”
Srivastava added, “It is also best that diplomatic conversations are not misrepresented for political purposes.”
Trudeau also touched upon the Covid-19 pandemic and said this “is a moment for all of us to pull together”. He added, “We’re going to be there to continue to work together as we are there to help each other out.”
He then went on talk about Guru Nanak’s teachings of compassion, equality and selfless service, which are at the heart of both Sikhism and Canadian values.
Trudeau, who many regard as an ultra-liberal is the first global leader of standing to comment on the protest by Indian farmers.
Has @JustinTrudeau “expressed concern” about the peaceful protests in Hong Kong? Thailand? Poland? France? Bangladesh? And the many countries which have seen protests in the last few weeks? Or is he interested in defending the rights of only politically relevant groups?
The new law passed by the Modi government are meant to liberalise farm trade and open up agricultural markets. However, such comments coming from the Canadian Prime Minister has the strong possibility of hitting bilateral ties between the two nations.
Trudeau, when he first became PM openly showed his soft spot on pro-Khalistan activists and that led to a rather chilly reception when he was on a state visit to Indian in February 2018.
Persecution Relief, an organization claiming to help ‘persecuted’ Christians in India has been working clandestinely and carrying out anti-national activities.
This organization has been gathering details about crimes across the country where the victims are Christians, collating them, and preparing periodical reports which are then shared with various lobbying organizations in the USA and evangelist organizations across the world.
They primarily collect data of skirmishes between Christian missionaries who go for proselytization in villages and the locals there, in an attempt to make a case for alleged ‘persecution’ of Christians in India.
While this activity of documenting crimes is a legitimate one, what is to be noted is that the so-called incidents of alleged crimes of ‘persecution’ are isolated incidents which are given a communal colour and presented before the international audience to portray India as an ‘intolerant’ nation and to tarnish the image of Hindus globally as they label innocent citizens of the country who resist Christian conversions as ‘religious fanatics’. It has been found that reports of reputed newspapers/sites and police reports differ vastly from the rhetoric peddled by Persecution Relief. Analysis conducted by Legal Rights Protection Forum (LRPF) on 8 cases of alleged ‘persecution’ as reported to international agencies by Persecution Relief, concluded that most of them are everyday crimes and not hate crimes. Some of the cases were tussles between local villagers and Chrisitian evangelists who had come to proselytize.
Modus Operandi
Persecution Relief has been set up by one Shibu Thomas from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. It is one of the organizations involved in the collection of information on incidents of alleged ‘Christian persecution’ in India and submitting it to various international organizations including the United States Council on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a body of Christian Crusaders, waging a religious war stealthily on native religions and cultures.
According to Shibu, they have a network of 300 Whatsapp groups organized district wise in 28 states, as well as district-wise and state-wise co-ordinators. With around 50,000 members representing most of the churches in India, this organized group breaks the news of ‘attacks on Christians’ and ‘arrest of Christians’.
They have a toll-free helpline for reporting incidents of ‘persecution’ of Christians. It publishes ‘persecution reports’ which are then utilized by Christian organizations like the Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America (FIACONA). The official website of FIACONA carries the punch line ‘Pray for a Persecuted Church’. This data is then used to lobby with US Politicians, Church organizations to classify India as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ and push for sanctions against India.
So far, they have documented 2,200+ instances of so-called ‘persecution of Christians’ since the year 2016 and have reported to both politicians belonging to the Congress party in India and international agencies.
They also support the church through political, judicial and financial interventions.
Conspiracy to spoil India’s global reputation
Incalculable damage has been done to the prestige and image of India in the eyes of the international world through the notorious attempts of Persecution Relief, a Christian missionary NGO that is out to destroy native culture and religions.
It is to be noted that Persecution Relief has been taken into cognizance by US Law Makers and members of United States Council on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a body of Christian Crusaders, waging a religious war stealthily on native religions and cultures. As a result, India has been branded as a “Country of Particular Concern” with respect to religious minority rights.
In its report for the year 2020, the USCIRF put India in the same league as China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and other countries where there is zilch freedom of religion. Amongst several reasons cited in its report, one of the reasons cited is the jump in Christian persecution in India.
In 2019, India was rated “10th most dangerous country for Christians to live”, by UK & US-based monitoring group named Open Doors. The same monitoring group had ranked India 28th in 2014. This group was also influenced by the reports of Persecution Relief.
Isolated incidents portrayed as hate crimes
Legal Rights Protection Forum (LRPF), a legal activism organization working in the area of Scheduled Caste and Tribal communities rights has analyzed 8 cases of alleged ‘persecution’ as reported to International agencies by Persecution Relief. However, most have them are isolated incidents of crime that have been given a communal twist to blame the Hindus.
Click here for the list of cases analyzed by LRPF.
Exposing their recent webinar
In a webinar named “FIACONA Webinar November 2020” held on 17th November 2020, the members of FIACONA expressed their satisfaction at getting India included in the top 14 countries, moving from 28 in 2015 to top 10 in the persecution of minorities but regretted that they could not get sanctions imposed on India by the US government.
Ironically, while the topic of the webinar was ‘Hate Crimes against Christians in India’, one of the speakers Valson Abraham (President of Indian Pentecostal Church) was gloating over how ‘in one state they have grown from 300 to 1800 churches in 10 years’ and there were ‘4th generation of churchgoers’. He was also excited about the ‘huge jump in the number of Christians in the state of Punjab’ and then went on to spell out strategies for fulfilling the ‘Great Commission’ and ‘reaching out to the world’s largest unreached population’ words which in plain English mean evangelism and conversion of non-Christians into Christianity through ‘spreading the Gospel’ and ‘church planting’.
Valson Abraham also stated that just sheer “sheer number of workers, money or field visits alone will not give results” adding that there was a need for “well thought out strategies, missionary work, and well-trained pastors”. He said that only 5% of India’s pastors are ‘adequately trained’.
He also said that there was “good news about good happenings in Orissa and Bihar, Central and northern states of India”. “There is tremendous growth and there is no longer strong resistance to our work.”, Abraham says.
Valson Abraham claims that there are now ‘6-8 % in India praying to Jesus’. “We should pray like never before. Satan can laugh at our toils but will tremble at our prayers.”, Abraham can be heard saying.
He also said that they were attempting to bring through 7 domains: the entertainment industry, sports, education, politicians/government officials, newspapers, businessmen, and the Church.
Another speaker of FIACONA, Mr. John Prabhudas said “We expressed our displeasure to state department officials for not placing India on the agenda for sanctions, for various political considerations. We hope it will change”.
In the webinar, Shibu Thomas of Persecution Relief introduces himself as a businessman who is now doing “Lord’s work”. His organization had an FCRA registration which he has not renewed, as he was asked to answer a 22-point questionnaire for its renewal. He further states that ‘he was attacked, slapped with FCRA and income tax recovery notice’.
He says that 2224 incidents have been documented and also referred to the incident of Pastor Mahesh of Sharon Church (Refer to the link above).
Shibu Thomas claims to have been a part of BJP in Madhya Pradesh for 10 years and was supposedly in charge of minorities cell. He states that he started Persecution Relief in 2015 (Note: Until 2015, India was not seen as a “Country of Particular Concern” by the USCIRF).
Shibu Thomas in the webinar laments that the most difficult issue that they are facing now is the tactic of social boycott and ex-communication implemented at village level by ‘fanatics’ (local villagers who are non-Christians).
He also says that signboards with “No Christian preachers allowed in this village” have become another big problem in their efforts.
“The small Christian community is unable to withstand this social boycott where fines of up to ₹5,000 are imposed on those who speak/deal with ex-communicated members. These people are not allowed to draw water from common sources, no work is offered to them, no goods are sold to them in shops, etc. Then pressure is applied to do “ghar wapsi” (coming back to native Hindu fold),” he says.
Shibu Thomas and Congress
Referring to the incident of Kondagaon in Chattisgarh, Shibu Thomas says that he has written to Sonia Gandhi and has even got a reply from her. He says that he has also been given an appointment by Chattisgarh Chief Minister (currently ruled by Congress) to present their case.
In February 2019, Shibu Thomas had met with Rahul Gandhi who was then Congress President and had handed over him a copy of the “Persecution Relief Annual Report – 2018”.
During the webinar meeting, Shibu Thomas also says that they had earlier met with Jharkhand Chief Minsiter Hemant Soren supposedly facilitated by former Defence Minister during the UPA regime A.K. Anthony. At that time, Hemant Soren had promised to them about repealing the anti-conversion law.
Recently, the Hemant Soren Government in Jharkhand had passed a resolution that allows members of tribal communities to identify themselves as ‘Sarna’, a distinct religious category from the Hindus. About this move, Shibu Thomas said, “The Jharkhand act on allowing Tribals to mention their religion is a great step. We have made great efforts in this regard and achieved success. Census wants Tribals to be treated as Hindus. There are 200 tribal districts in India and this movement of tribals allowed to declare their religion is important for us as most of the tribals are Christians.”
LRPF, which has brought this matter to light has written to the Ministry of Home Affairs to investigate Persecution Relief and its owner Shibu Thomas. It has also called for initiating a thorough inquiry into 2224 incidents cited in its reports.
Lodged complaint with Ministry of Home Affairs against 'Persecution Relief' for sending false reports to international agencies resulting in India being declared as a country dangerous for Religious Minorities by @USCIRF.
Legal Rights Protection Forum (LRPF), a legal activism organization working in the area of Scheduled Caste and Tribal communities rights has analyzed 8 cases of alleged ‘persecution’ as reported to International agencies by Persecution Relief. However, most have them are isolated incidents of crime that have been given a communal twist to blame the Hindus.
Case 1: Murder of Samaru Madakami in Odisha
This case, as reported by The Hindustan Times reads “Odisha cops exhume body parts of youth killed over suspicion of witchcraft”. The alleged killers were all from the same village as the deceased and some of them were his relatives.
‘Christian boy stabbed and stoned to death for his faith in Eastern India. A tribal mob, incited by Hindu extremists, killed the 16-year-old, falsely accusing him and other targeted Christians of practicing black magic’.
Persecution Relief documented this case as a 14-year-old Christian boy being murdered in cold blood by a group of ‘religious fanatics’ in the east Indian state of Odisha’
A case of murder of alleged practice of witchcraft has been twisted to read as murder of Christian by religious fanatics.
Case 2: Murder of Sahdev Samarth in Chattisgarh
Below is the extract from The New Indian Express report on this incident:
‘Congress worker killed by suspected Naxals in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district. Sahdev Samrat (30), a native of Thothapara area, was attacked with sharp-edged weapons on Saturday night when he went to attend a wedding in the nearby Kostapara area in Bhairamgarh town.
The Persecution Relief’s website reported the same incident as:
‘Brother Sachdev Samrath, a 48 year old tribal Christian was murdered… because of their opposition to conversion, Naxalites believed he was a police informer.’
Though the similar news is reported by News18, a local news site reporting an update of the incident said that the murder was not the handiwork of Naxalites but could be due to domestic issues as the deceased had recently married for the second time.
It is a common practice for Naxalites to leave behind pamphlets at the spot of offence explaining why they killed a particular person. The reasons given are usually ‘Police Informer’, ‘Class Enemy’ etc. The absence of any claim by Naxalites that they murdered Sahdev Samrath, has led police to believe that the murder could be due to personal reasons, as the deceased had married a second lady two months before his murder.
Thus, in this case, a bigamous man was murdered and the same incident was twisted by Persecution Relief and the murder is attributed to ‘murdered because of Christian faith’.
Case 3: Murder of Anant Ram Gond in Odisha
In a case where Naxalites killed one of their ex-comrades over suspicion of him being a police informer, a report by Sabrang (left-leaning portal) stated that ‘a Christian evangelical man was found virtually beheaded in Orissa, which many believe was a hate crime committed by Hindu fanatics because of his conversion to the faith.’ It went on to add that ‘Hindu fanatics’ armed the Naxalites who then went on to murder Anant Ram Gond.
The article in Sabrang goes on to say “the police protecting Hindu fanatics, denies role of Naxals”. Then follows the inevitable reference to the 2008 Kandhmal incident.
If the version as published in the Sabrang India website is to be believed, it will be the first instance in Naxalite history where they took arms from Hindu fanatics to kill one of their ex-comrades.
On the other hand, speaking to Asia News, Shibu Thomas, the founder of the Persecution Relief said that, Anant Ram Gond had converted to Christianity nine months ago and had been baptized two months ago had attracted the ire of the villagers, mostly Hindu fanatics. “They armed the Naxals who physically committed the murder.”, he said.
Unfortunately, the story as peddled by Sabrang and Persecution Relief has as many holes as a tea sieve. Their own Facebook posts clearly show that victim Anant Ram Gond was killed by Naxalites for fear of spilling their secrets to the police.
A killing that had nothing to do either with ‘Hindu fanatics’ or the Christian faith of the deceased, was twisted into yet another tale ‘Christian persecution’ by ‘Hindu fanatics’ by Persecution Relief and Sabrang India.
Case 4: Murder of Munglu Ram Nareti in Chattisgarh
This is a case of Naxalites killing a person on suspicion of being a police informer. However, the news too was twisted to accuse Hindus and the following narrative was pushed:
“Munglu Ram Nureti from Kohkameta village in Chhattisgarh was killed because villagers who were opposed to his practicing the Christian faith falsely reported him as a police informer to the Maoists. The intruders then ordered Minka to call her husband, a father of five who had left the animist practices of his tribal fellows three years ago to follow Christ.” – Page 50, Persecution Relief’s Annual Report – 2019
Note the derogatory reference to tribal religious beliefs as “animist practices of his tribal fellows”.
Here is the testimony of victim’s daughter in this case
“My father is not an informer. He was a simple man who used to run a small grocery store. The police and Naxals both visit our villages and talk to villagers. That doesn’t mean the villagers are informers for either of them.”
Case 5: Murder of Subbaravamma, Bollapalli in Marturu, Andhra Pradesh
An elderly lady was killed by a youth in East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh and later the accused was caught by the police. According to the District Superintendent of Police, the youth suffered from psychological disorder. But the news was twisted (Page No. 38 of the Annual Report – 2018 by Persecution Relief) to ‘killed at the instigation of the Hindu temple priest, village sarpanch” which is quite contrary to the police version.
The District Police Superintendent of East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh Mr. Satya Yesu Babu confirmed to the World Watch Monitor that a 20-year-old sculptor from East Godavari District had been arrested in this case, but he would not name him. He said as follows:
“The accused suffers from some psychological disorder. He would roam around the houses in the locality daily, and on the day of the offence he entered the room where the old lady was present, assuming her to be a young woman. He tried to catch hold of her, but she resisted. It was then he picked up a wooden stick and struck her on her head. She succumbed to the injury. We came to know that he underwent some medical treatment in a hospital for the mentally disabled in Visakhapatnam. On 23 March, we took him into custody.”
The name of the accused cannot be mentioned in the FIR because, at the time the offence was committed, we did not conclude that he had killed her. This case has no religious angle. The accused is a psychological pervert and he was desiring only sex. When she revolted, he started beating her.”
However Persecution Relief and other Christian leaders from the East Godavari District made a 38-minute lengthy video on YouTube containing accusations against Hindus, police officials of ‘having colluded with Hindus’, and inflammatory speeches accusing local village sarpanch, temple Archak and others alleging that religious hatred was behind the murder.
Case 6: Murder of pastor Gideon Periasamy in Tamil Nadu
A case of suicide by hanging of a Christian pastor was twisted as ‘brutal torture and murder’ by Persecution Relief and other Christian organisations.
Persecution Relief straightaway wrote ‘brutally beaten, tortured before being murdered ‘
Within 2 days of the incident an online petition was prepared on www.change.org site with strong accusations against Hindu organisations and individuals. The online petition says ‘The Christian Minority and a Dalit Pastor Mr. Gideon Periyasamy has been murdered on 20 Jan 2018, by the above said four accused who were Hindutva Extremist of Hindu Munnani and High Caste Fanatics.’
A 25-minute lengthy video in Tamil language was uploaded about the deceased Pastor Mr. Gideon Periyasamy which was interspersed with scenes from Graham Staines film and narration of his killing. His funeral was covered. Scenes of clashes from old videos were stitched together to evoke strong emotions from watchers and to convince the audience that Pastor Gideon was indeed murdered by ‘Hindu fanatics’.
The news was promptly picked up by international Christian websites with headlines screaming “Indian pastor tortured, beaten and then hung to death from the rafters of his church”.
Even before police could investigate the crime, the scene of the crime was disturbed and twisted. However, it turned out to be a clear case of suicide. Only a blood clot around the throat and neck where the main pressure from the rope had choked the pastor. There were bruises and welts but no other traces of blood on his body.
Case 7: Murder of Pastor Saanvi in Odisha
In this case, the Persecution Relief report does not mention date and place of the offence. The name of the deceased is mention in monosyllable without surname/house name. A search of the web yields news from predominantly Christian news/propaganda sites. There is no way of confirming this incident as this is not reported directly or indirectly in any independent web site or news channel.
In the absence of full details like place and date of offence, full name of the deceased, the authenticity of the story could not be verified at all.
Case 8: Murder of Pastor Mahesh of Sharon Church in Rajasthan
Persecution Relief claims that Pastor Mahesh who is familiar with electrical repairs was asked to climb a pole to fix a fuse. When he went up, electricity was switched on intentionally by ‘religious fanatics’ making him fall down and die. Villagers held a meeting and imposed a penalty of Rs. 2.50 lakhs on the accused. Sarpanch of that village and others came together and decided not to file lodge a complaint with police.
In its Facebook page, Persecution Relief wrote “a fanatic pre-mediate the murder of the Pastor by deceiving him to climb an electric pole to check the fuse and then he pulled the mains on, Pastor electrocuted to death. Church Pray for the wife and 3 Children”
However, this was nothing more than a simple case of death by electrocution which has been peddled as ‘Hindu fanatics’ premediating a murder.
