Isolated incidents portrayed as hate crimes by Persecution Relief

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.

However, the same incident is reported on a Christian website as:

‘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’.

The same story was picked and shared by Muslim Mirror.

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.

However, an elaborate story was published in one of Persecution Relief’s reports in which the deceased was hailed as a great Christian.

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.”

Source Links: WorldWatchMonitor, The Hans India

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.

Tamil daily Dinamalar reported it as a case of suicide. The New Indian express reported it as suicide that ‘raises eyebrows’.

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.