B. K. Somasekhara is a retired judge of the Karnataka High Court in India.
B. K. Somasekhara is a retired judge of the Karnataka High Court in India.
Justice Somasekhara was appointed head of a commission of inquiry instituted in 2008 by the Government of Karnataka to inquire into the 2008 attacks on Christians in southern Karnataka. The commission, which was appointed in late 2008, submitted its report in January 2011.
The commission did not find evidence of any involvement of the state government or the police in the attacks. Nor did it find evidence of a cover-up. Many prominent Christians, including sitting and former judges like M. F. Saldanha had expressed the belief that both complicity and cover-up did happen during the disturbances, basing their belief on hearsay. They had hoped that the commission of inquiry would produce proof endorsing their belief, but this did not happen. [1] [2] [3] [4] Somasekhara concluded in most cases that the district authorities and the police had taken the "appropriate steps regarding the Church and the persons including the required protection." He concluded that the attacks were "carried out by misguided elements following circulation of literature which insulted Hindu Gods and reports of conversion activity by some Christian groups." The report also exonerated the catholic church of misdemeanor, saying that "the Roman Catholic church and its leaders were not involved in conversion." [5]
The Archbishop of Bangalore, Bernard Moras, "rejected" the Somasekhara report, saying that "it has failed to address the terms of reference of the Commission and has failed to do justice to the Christian community." [6] He demanded that the state government launch a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the attacks, also saying that "we will make a representation to the government putting forth our demand. We will make a representation to the chief minister, the governor, various organisations including the Human Rights and the Central government". [6] However, Uday Kumar Shetty, the president of the district unit of the BJP, approved of the report, believing that the report was correct in its assertion that the Sangh Parivar were not involved in the attacks. [7]
The Bajrang Dal is a Hindu nationalist militant organisation that forms the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). It is a member of the right-wing Sangh Parivar. The ideology of the organisation is based on Hindutva. It was founded on 1 October 1984 in Uttar Pradesh, and began spreading more in the 2010s throughout India, although its most significant base remains the northern and central portions of the country.
Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha is a Hindu nationalist political party in India.
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Popular Front of India (PFI) is an Islamic political organisation in India, that engages in a radical and exclusivist style of Muslim minority politics. Formed to counter Hindutva groups, it was banned by the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) on 28 September 2022 for a period of five years.
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The 2008 attacks on Christians in southern Karnataka refer to the wave of attacks directed against Christian churches and prayer halls in the Indian city of Mangalore and the surrounding area of southern Karnataka in September and October 2008 by Hindu nationalist organisations, Bajrang Dal and the Sri Ram Sena. The attacks were widely perceived by Christians in southern Karnataka to be punishment from right-wing Hindu nationalist organisations because they had been outspoken about 2008 anti-Christian attacks in Orissa, and also because the New Life Fellowship Trust (NLFT), a non-denominational Christian Church, was alleged by Bajrang Dal to be responsible for forced conversions of Hindus to Christianity.
Love jihad or Romeo jihad, is an Islamophobic conspiracy theory developed by proponents of the Hindutva ideology. The conspiracy theory purports that Muslim men target Hindu women for conversion to Islam by means such as seduction, feigning love, deception, kidnapping, and marriage, as part of a broader demographic "war" by Muslims against India, and an organised international conspiracy, for domination through demographic growth and replacement.
Adoration Monastery of the Sisters of St-Clare is a Christian monastery in Hampankatta, Mangalore, Karnataka, India, near Milagres Church. On 14 Sept 2008, the 2008 attacks on Christians in southern Karnataka broke out here, quickly followed by some 13 others within one hour. The attacks began when a group of some 15 youths on motorbikes from the suspected Hindu fascist organisation of Bajrang Dal arrived at the chapel at around 10:15 AM, IST, shouting a pro-Bajrang Dal slogan. They entered the monastery and attacked it with lathis, desecrating the tabernacle and the Eucharist, the monstrance, a crucifix, the oil lamps, the vases on the altar and a few statues of saints. A couple praying in the church at the time were also reportedly beaten by the intruders. Two nuns were also reportedly injured.
Michael Francis Saldanha, popularly known as M. F. Saldanha, is an Indian judge and former Justice of the Bombay High Court. Although retired from official duty, he conducted an unofficial investigation into the 2008 attacks on Christians in southern Karnataka and was outspoken against the protests and published a report in early 2011 investigating the attacks on Christian institutions and people, written up after he visited 413 locations, examined 673 witnesses and 2,114 victims of the attacks. He was strongly critical of the state government and police in his Saldanha Commission report and described the attacks as "state-sponsored terrorism" and concluded that "the attacks and incidents which took place were instigated and pre-planned. They were not only supported by the state but were also covered up for by the state." He was also critical of the official Bharatiya Janata Party government investigation and report into the attacks by B. K. Somasekhara, given that he said there was photographic and video evidence of police misconduct which the government commission had not identified.
Mahendra Kumar was the convener of the Karnataka, India, branch of the Bajrang Dal, an Indian Hindu youth organisation. He was reportedly involved in the 2008 attacks on Christians in southern Karnataka on 14 September 2008. He claimed that he was incarcerated for 42 days in Mangalore before being released on conditional bail by Karnataka High Court Justice Ashok B. Hinchigeri on 25 October 2008, and was used as a scapegoat by the Bharatiya Janata Party regime to "save the government from further embarrassment after the church attacks and on instructions from the Sangh Parivar leaders."
Catholic Association of South Kanara (CASK), formerly South Kanara Catholic Association, is a Christian organisation based in Mangalore, India.
The United Christian Forum for Human Rights (UCFHR) is a coalition of Christian organizations in India that was formed in 2014 with the aim of advocating for the rights of Christians and other religious minorities in the country.
Basavaraj Somappa Bommai is an Indian politician and engineer who served as the 23rd Chief Minister of Karnataka from 18 July 2021 to 19 May 2023. He is currently a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and was previously a member of the Janata Dal and Janata Dal (United). He is a Member of the Legislative Assembly in the legislature of Karnataka for Shiggaon, from where he has been elected four times since 2008. Between 1998 and 2008, he was a member of the Karnataka Legislative Council from Dharwad local authorities. He served as Minister for Water Resources and major and medium irrigation from 2008 to 2013, Home Affairs, Law and Parliamentary Affairs and Cooperation between 2019 and 2021 minister in charge of Haveri and Udupi districts from 2019 to 2021.
On 28 July 2012, activists belonging to the Hindu Jagarana Vedike affiliated with the Sangh Parivar, allegedly attacked a birthday party at an unlicensed homestay in Mangalore, Karnataka.
The International Federation of Karnataka Christian Associations (IFKCA) is an organization that represents Christian associations in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is active in addressing the concerns of the Christian minority in the state, which has been subject to repeated attacks by extremists.
The 2008 Kandhamal violence refers to widespread violence against Christians purportedly incited by Hindutva organisations in the Kandhamal district of Orissa, India, in August 2008 after the murder of the Hindu monk Lakshmanananda Saraswati. According to government reports the violence resulted in at least 39 Christians killed and 3906 Christian houses completely destroyed. Reports state, more than 395 churches were razed or burnt down, over 5,600 – 6,500 houses plundered or burnt down, over 600 villages ransacked and more than 60,000 – 75,000 people left homeless. Other reports put the death toll at nearly 100 and suggested more than 40 women were sexually assaulted. Unofficial reports placed the number of those killed to more than 500. Many Christian families were burnt alive. Thousands of Christians were forced to convert to Hinduism under threat of violence. Many Hindu families were also assaulted in some places because they supported the Indian National Congress (INC) party. This violence was led by the Bajrang Dal, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the VHP.
The 2021 anti-Christian violence in Karnataka refers to the series violence against Christians by right wing Hindutva groups in the Indian state of Karnataka in 2021. The attacks increased after September 2021 when leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) declared of an "anti-conversion bill" in the state to check religious conversions. The violence again intensified over the Christmas period when right-wing mobs disrupted Christmas celebrations. The Human rights organisation, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) documented 39 violent incidents against Christians in Karnataka from January to November 2021, all carried out by Hindutva organizations such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Hindu Jagrana Vedike, Bajrang Dal, and Banjara Nigama. The violence included physical assaults, sexual assaults against women, church vandalism, filming the attacks and later later circulating the videos to celebrate.