By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi, March 26, 2022: The leader of a Catholic laity forum March 26 welcomed the refusal of the Indian Supreme Court to entertain a petition seeking the establishment of a board to monitor Christian missionaries’ activities.
“Good directive from the Supreme Court,” says chhotebhai, convener of Indian Catholic Forum, after the apex court on March 25 rejected the petition filed by the Hindu Dharma Parishad (Hindu religious council).
A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and A S Bopanna warned the petitioner that it would impose heavy costs, and said such pleas caused disharmony.
The court dismissed the petition after the lawyer agreed to withdraw it.
The petition, represented by advocate Jaya Sukin, argued that religious conversions were on the high.
Earlier, the Madras High Court had refused to entertain the plea while noting that the jurisdiction lay with the state and there was already a law in place against forcible conversions.
The Catholic forum leader welcomed the apex court’s directive including the stern warning of imposition of costs for filing a mischievous plaint.
“Unfortunately even in the higher judiciary there is a lot of subjectivity in deciding on sensitive matters like hijab. Still it is our only hope,” added the leader, who was a former national president of the All India Catholic Union.