Nepal's first religious freedom case since the country's new
constitution was implemented in 2015 is due to come to trial later this
week.
Facing charges will be eight Christian counsellors arrested for
distributing a pamphlet about Jesus in a Christian school while helping
children through the trauma of last year’s earthquake.
Anything perceived as evangelizing is outlawed in the new constitution.
The seven men and one woman arrested June 9 were charged with trying to
convert children to Christianity by distributing the pamphlet during a
trauma seminar.
The counsellors were working for Teach Nepal. Barnabas Shrestha,
chairman of Teach Nepal, says they were "invited by a pastor to do the
counselling in the school". While it is a Christian school, not all
pupils are Christians.
Shrestha denies the counsellors were trying to convert children. The
police making the arrests "wanted our people to say yes, they have
preached the Gospel ...which is not true".
The freedom of Nepal’s Christians is increasingly under threat.
Last week, according to a missionary in Nepal, the government announced
to all leaders of Christian orphanages and boarding schools in
Kathmandu that it would impose huge fines, close them down and
confiscate possessions should they find just one Christian booklet in
their institution.
The government also announced that praying with children or letting them attend a Bible club is prohibited.
Another Christian Nepali contact, who wants to remain anonymous, told
World Watch Monitor that the Social Welfare Council, which approves
foreign aid used to conduct programs, has stopped granting approval for
Christian activities.
When Nepal decided to remain a secular, rather than become a Hindu, state it was a disappointment to Hindu nationalist groups.
In September 2015, hours after Nepal's Constituent Assembly rejected calls to revert to a Hindu state, two churches were bombed.
Pamphlets promoting Hindu nationalism were found at each of the
churches and nationalist group, Hindu Morcha Nepal, issued a press
statement calling for Christian leaders to leave the country and for
converts to Christianity to return to Hinduism.
The eight counsellors remain on bail awaiting trial, expected to be held on July 23.
Transcript of video:
Barnabas Shrestha, Chairman, Teach Nepal: These people have done
nothing wrong. They didn’t hurt anyone, but still they were handcuffed.
These people were invited by a pastor to do this trauma counselling for
children into their school.
Text: They were charged with trying to convert children through a
booklet during a seminar earthquake-related awareness seminar in
Christian schools. Not all the students are Christian. The seminar was
to help students deal with post-traumatic stress as a result of a
7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal in April 2015. The Christians
were released on bail 8 days later, but are under trial.
C.B. Gahatraj, the Federation of National Christian Nepal: These eight
people were accused of preaching their religion, but the allegation was
wrong, we found (after visiting the area). The booklet that was said to
be the tool for preaching was a book for children, which only carried
the story of Jesus.
Bishop Narayan Sharma, Believers Church, Nepal: This is the booklet.
The title of this booklet is the story of Jesus. It even does not say
“Lord” Jesus. This book became - such a small, colourful comic book -
such a crime.
Text: On June 9, police in Charikot, Dolakha District, arrested eight
Christian representatives of the Christian group Teach Nepal. They were
charged with trying to convert children by distributing the booklet
during earthquake-related awareness seminars in Christian schools. The
seminar was to help students deal with post-traumatic stress as a result
of a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal in April 2015. The
Christians were released on bail eight days later, but are under trial.
Shrestha: Our organization never tried to convert any children.
Actually, normally, we do not give books to other people; since these
two schools were run by Christians, we thought it will be okay to give
the books to the children.
They [police] wanted our people to say yes they have preached the
Gospel, they tried to force the children to become Christians, which is
not true. And they were called one by one by a police officer. They
[police] asked all kinds of questions. When our people denied it’s not
true, and when they spoke that way, this man [police officer] got so
angry. First he kicked, this man kicked [one of the Christians] very
hard. And later, he started slapping on the face. But later, the other
person [a police man] was called over there … this person didn’t use his
hands or feet, I think he was suggested by others, and he started using
… I think a polythene [plastic] pipe.
Text: This is Nepal’s first religious freedom case since a new
constitution was implemented in September 2015. Christians attribute it
to a constitutional clause which mandates the state to protect Hinduism,
and see it as a build-up to coming repression.
Sharma: We thought with the secular state status, we have much freedom.
But the incident and the attitude and the approach from the state, it
shows they want to be more strict and they want to just keep the
limitation on Christianity, and they don’t want it to grow further.
Lok Mani Dhakal, President, Janajagaran Party Nepal, a Christian party:
We had thought that “dharma nirpekshta” means secularism, that the
state will not favor any one religion. When the time came to pass the
draft constitution in parliament, major parties built a consensus that
secularism means the state should protect the traditional majority
religion while granting religious freedom to the people. I was surprised
looking at their description of secularism.
Sharma: A definition along with it also comes that if you propagate
your religious thoughts, it will be a crime. If I’m in my church and
speaking to my congregation, the police can arrest me and say that the
teaching I was giving in the church … my intention was to convert
people.
Text: The government sent a circular to non-governmental organizations
in June, saying they can’t have ‘propagation of religion’ as a goal.
Churches in Nepal are registered as NGOs, as no law provides for the
formation of a religious group.
Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, Ex-Prime Minister of Nepal: No, no, that [arrest
of Christians] was an isolated incident. It will be harmful to relate
it with the constitutional provisions of the country. The country is
fully secular. All religions have equal freedom, and the state makes no
discrimination. The state is not mandated to protect the majority
religion. The state is mandated to play a neutral role, to protect all
religions, all religious beliefs. To cater to fears of certain quarters -
that Nepal may be rapidly converted into another religion and that the
traditional religions of Nepal, not only Hinduism … Hinduism, Buddhism
and many other indigenous religions are practiced in Nepal … just to
clear doubts and fears of some of the people that they will be swamped
by other religions than the native religions of Nepal - some provisions
were initiated. But it is not against secularism.
Dhakal: The way the constituent assembly has defined secularism, will
the world believe in that definition? Just because you call an elephant a
rabbit, will the rest of the world call it a rabbit or an elephant?
Courtesy: World Watch Monitor
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