ICC Note: Indian Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas seeks help from Indian Home Affairs Minister Rajnath Singh to intervene over the mistreatment of the Christian community in the eastern state of Jharkhand. In India the Christian minority face many difficulties daily as they are being unfairly treated and harassed by state officials.

09/07/2018 India (UCAnews) – Indian Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas has personally asked federal Home Affairs Minister Rajnath Singh to intervene over the mistreatment of Christians and their organizations in eastern Jharkhand state.

Bishop Mascarenhas, secretary general of the Indian Bishops’ Conference, met Singh at his New Delhi office Sept. 3.

The minister was briefed about difficulties being faced by the Christian minority.

Also present at the meeting was Conard K. Sangma, the Catholic chief minister of Meghalaya, a Christian majority state in north-eastern India.

Many Jharkhand Christians believe they are being unfairly targeted by a state government investigation of 88 Christian agencies over foreign donations.

The probes center on India’s Foreign Contribution Regulation Act requiring that donations be received through a designated bank and spent only for specific social service undertakings.

In July, the state government run by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), that Singh is a federal member of, accused Catholic dioceses along with congregations such as Jesuits and Salesians, of using overseas donations to help obtain religious conversions.

Christian leaders maintain that “fabricated” cases have been used to keep a Jesuit priest as well as a Missionaries of Charity nun in jail for more than two months.

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