At least eight villages in Kanker have erected hoardings banning the entry of pastors and “converted Christians”, creating fear among members of the Christian minority.
The Chhattisgarh High Court has disposed of a petition seeking the removal of hoardings from at least eight villages that prohibit the entry of pastors and “converted Christians”, stating that hoardings erected to prevent forcible conversion by way of allurement or fraudulent means cannot be termed as unconstitutional.
After hearing the matter, the division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Bibhu Datta Guru stated in the order dated October 28, “The hoardings appear to have been installed by the concerned Gram Sabhas as a precautionary measure to protect the interest of indigenous tribes and local cultural heritage.”
The petitioner Digbal Tandi, a resident of Kanker district, had filed the writ petition raising the issue of segregation of the Christian community and their religious leaders from the mainstream village community. The plea alleged that the Panchayat Department was instructing the zila panchayat, janpad panchayat and eventually the gram panchayat to pass resolution/oath in the name and style “Hamari Parampara Hamari Virasat (Our tradition, our heritage)” and the real intention of the circular to the gram panchayat is to instruct them to pass a resolution prohibiting the entry of Christian pastors and “converted Christians” in the village.
At least eight villages in Kanker district have erected hoardings banning the entry of pastors and “converted Christians”, creating a fear of violence among members of the Christian minority over entering villages they used to visit. The plea also alleged that the circular was passed by misusing provisions of the Panchayat (Extension to Schedule Area) Act (PESA), 1996, to spread religious hatred against members ofthe Christian community.
Additional Advocate General (AAG) Y S Thakur said that PESA rules empower the gram sabha to protect local cultural heritage, such as places of deities, worship systems, institutions (like gotul, dhumkudia), and humanistic social practices from any kind of destructive behaviour.
He said, “The hoardings installed by the concerned gram sabha are only for the limited purpose of prohibiting only those pastors of the Christian religion belonging to other villages who are entering the village for the purpose of illegal conversion of the tribal peoples,” adding that the hoardings state that illegal conversion by alluring the tribals is harming their culture. He also cited law and order problems over the issue in the past, including the 2023 rioting incident in Narayanpur district, where tribals desecrated a church and assaulted policemen, including the Superintendent of Police (SP).
After listening to both sides, the bench cited Supreme Court judgments and ruled, “…the installation of the hoardings for preventing forcible conversion by way of allurement or fraudulent means cannot be termed as unconstitutional.”
The court also observed that the petitioner did not avail of any alternative statutory remedy before approaching the high court. “A party must firstly exhaust the statutory alternative remedy available before approaching the High Court seeking redressal of any grievance,” the order stated.
SOURCE: The Indian Express
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