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Court forbids coercive action, arrest of Indian bishop, priest

Bishop Almeida of Jabalpur, priest were charged even after earlier case against a Catholic principal fell flat, church official says
Hindu activists march in Jhabua on Jan. 11, 2021, to demand the closure of all Christian churches in the district of Madhya Pradesh state in central India

Hindu activists march in Jhabua on Jan. 11, 2021, to demand the closure of all Christian churches in the district of Madhya Pradesh state in central India. (Photo supplied)

Published: April 13, 2023 12:28 PM GMT
Updated: April 14, 2023 06:23 AM GMT

The High Court in central Indian Madhya Pradesh state has ordered police to refrain from arresting a Catholic bishop and a priest and granted bail to a Catholic school principal, in two separate criminal cases.

The April 12 order of the principal bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court in Jabalpur comes in an appeal of Bishop Gerald Almeida of Jabalpur and Father Jagan Raj seeking to quash the case filed against them.

The order said, “till the next date of hearing no coercive action shall be taken against the petitioners” and posted the case for hearing on April 24.

The police filed cases against the bishop and the priest on charges of cheating, abuse and neglect of children, violating clauses of a child protection law.

The court also directed the prosecution to submit the case diary and the inquiry report against the accused before the next hearing.

The case was registered on March 22 based on a complaint by an official from the education department under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Act, 2021.

The case was filed after officials raided a students' hostel run by the diocese in the Dindori district.

On March 31, the Dindori district and sessions court in the predominantly tribal area rejected the anticipatory bail application of the duo, forcing them to approach the high court.

Fearing arrest, the bishop abstained from Holy Week and Easter celebrations after the court rejected the bail plea, diocesan sources said.

In another order, the court granted bail to Nam Singh Yadav, the principal of the Jabalpur diocese-run school in Junwani, on April 13, a month after he was arrested on allegations of sexually assaulting girls in the hostel among other charges.

The court also has ordered an inquiry into the alleged charges leveled against Yadav by the district child welfare committee after he pleaded innocence.

Yadav was arrested and jailed on March 7, four days after the case was registered against him following a surprise inspection of the school and the hostel by a team of officials from the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

They alleged eight girls from the hostel accused the principal of exploiting them.

But the girls and their parents denied it and even sought a probe against the district child welfare committee.

A church official, who asked not to be named, told UCA News on April 13 that after the case against the principal fell flat, the bishop and the priest were charged.

"Our bishop who is the chairman of the Jabalpur Diocesan Education Society that runs the Junwani school, and its treasurer Father Raj were charged with cheating among other charges,” the official said.

“Now with High Court seeking the case diary and the inquiry report, we are hopeful that the truth will come out,” the official said.

Police have also filed “a false case of taking grant from the government and charging fee from the students was also registered against them," he said.

“We charged fees from students who did not get any grant from the government but the officials as part of their vendetta trapped them in a false case,” the official said.

Christian schools and hostels and orphanages faced surprise inspections from federal and state child rights panels in recent times.

The inspection teams accused Christian institutions that serve the poor of violating rules and filed cases against them.

Like Yadav, a Catholic priest principal in the Gwalior diocese was sent to jail after a surprise inspection in his school last month.

The priest was bailed out after spending three days in jail reportedly on the basis of a fake case filed against him.

In another case, a priest in Mandla district also in Jabalpur diocese is on the run in an alleged case of child labor and conversion. He has also moved the High Court seeking to quash the case against him.

The raid and false cases against Christian institutions are seen as a ploy by the ruling party to promote Hindu pride ahead of the assembly elections by the end of the year.

In Madhya Pradesh, ruled by the pro-Hindu Bhartiya Janata Party, Christians make up less than half percent of 7.2 million people.

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