India: At least 40 Madhya Pradesh churches issued with suspicious, “discriminatory” police questionnaires

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Christians in India’s Madhya Pradesh state say police have issued at least 40 churches with suspicious, discriminatory, questionnaire notices requesting information they believe could be released to Hindu extremists to attack them with, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

In a statement to local media, Indore Catholic Diocese Bishop Chacko Thottumarickal said the questionnaires were issued by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Information Centre of Indore, MSN reports. The notices requested information about the churches’ activity in the city over the three months prior to its issue date of July 7. The Bishop noted that the 16-point notices were only issued to Christians.

“We contacted the police commissioner and told him that it is an unjust order and very discriminatory — why only Christians?” Bishop Thottumarickal said. “The questions in the letter are also very suspicious. This is not in good spirit.”

After Christians and reporters raised the issue with authorities, Indore Police Commissioner Makrand Deoskar said the notices were withdrawn and that they may have been sent to churches by mistake. “We have not issued the notice to the community members,” Deoskar said. “The letter has been written by the ACP [Assistant Commissioner of Police] and addressed to the TIs [police chiefs]. It is an internal letter. The TIs may have mistakenly sent it to some Christian missionaries. There are law-and-order problems related to religious conversions that often happen, so these details are being collected and processed to timely address communal problems,” he said.

However, a local source told Morning Star News that the questionnaires remain a matter of concern to the Christian communities. “Although the police commissioner had stated that they withdrew the alleged notices, the police are still approaching the churches and enquiring about the same details and asking the pastors to fill out the document,” the source said. “This information would be shared with the anti-Christian elements who will storm into churches and cause a ruckus,” the source told Morning Star News. “It clearly shows the police and the Hindutva [Hindu nationalist] groups are operating hand-in-glove,” the source added.

Ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party since 2014, India ranks 11th on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2023 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

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