Indian archbishop slams religious profiling report

(June 27, 2011) The leader of the Catholic Church in central India’s Madhya Pradesh state has dismissed the findings of a government investigation into alleged profiling of Christians in the state. “The probe has not answered the basic questions,” Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal said on Sunday after reading the probe report. The state’s intelligence department, which conducted the investigation, concluded the profiling was the result of a “misunderstanding resulting from a breakdown in communications” among officials in the police department. The report, signed by the director general of police has not held anyone responsible for the mess. The police circular issued in March sought details on where the Christian community obtained its funds, the number of its educational institutions, and details of criminal records in what critics say was an apparent bid to brand Christians as thugs. The state’s ruling pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, is considered the political arm of several Hindu extremist groups that are blamed for several acts of anti-Christian violence in the state. Archbishop Cornelio says the Church wants to know the identity of those behind the circular that branded Christians as criminals, adding no low level official could have done it.