(February 18, 2011) Eighteen Catholic and Protestant bishops in the southern Indian
state of Karnataka staged a sit-in on Friday to protest against an enquiry commission
report on attacks on Christians. They criticized the one-man commission of Justice
B. K. Somashekhara that cleared the police and the state government of all blame for
attacks against Christians and Church institutions in 2008. The demonstration was
organized in Bangalore, the state capital, by the Karnataka United Christian Forum
for Human Rights and the Karnataka Region Catholic Bishops’ Council. The commission
had presented its final report on January 28, after nearly three years of investigation,
to the state government led by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, India people’s
party). The report is not judicial findings but politically motivated statements,
alleged Archbishop Bernard Moras of Bangalore, who heads the Catholic Church in the
state. The report is “completely one-sided, biased, propagandist and even communal,”
he said, adding that it has been “totally unfair to all Christians.” He lamented
that all forces and elements that had directly or indirectly supported the attacks
had been given a clean chit, while the victims have been converted into perpetrators.
The bishops have demanded that the government should hand over the cases to the Central
Bureau of Investigation, the top probe agency in the country. They also demanded withdrawal
of over 150 cases lodged against Christians who were hurt and disturbed by the church
attacks.