Indian Jesuit priest Fr. Cedric Prakash awarded France’s highest civilian honour

(May 19, 2006) : Jesuit priest, Fr. Cedric Prakash, the Director of PRASHANT, the Ahmedabad based Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace, has been awarded France’s highest civilian honour. In a message to Fr. Prakash, the Ambassador of France to India, Mr. Dominique Girard wrote, “I have the utmost pleasure of informing you that the President of the French Republic, Mr. Jacques Chirac, has conferred on you the award of “Knight of the Legion of Honour”, by decree of 18th April, 2006. I warmly congratulate you for this distinction. By this award, France acknowledges your lifetime commitment to the defence and the promotion of Human Rights in India”, the ambassador said. The award was initiated by the then first Consul of the French Republic, Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802 and is given to an elite group of people, mainly French Nationals and very exceptionally to foreigners, who distinguish themselves through military or civilian valour. Fr. Prakash has been a championing the cause of Human Rights in Gujarat and in other parts of India. In the wake of the Gujarat Carnage of 2002, he has testified before the US Commission for International Religious Freedom in Washington. Among the prestigious awards received by him are the Kabir Puraskar, which the President of India conferred on him in 1995 for his work in the promotion of Communal Harmony and Peace and in 2003, the Indian Muslim Council, USA presented him with the Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award for Humanitarian Work.