Peaceful environment prevails in the state and some stray incidents of crime happened but requisite and prompt action was taken by the police and criminal cases were registered where any crime was reported against the minority community, the Punjab police told the high court in response to a plea seeking security for churches in the state.
“The petitioners had tried to project that law and order situation in Punjab is going out of control. Some stray incidents have been mentioned to advance their argument about misperceived notions about the law and order situation in the state,” additional director general of police (law and order), Arpit Shukla, said in an affidavit, adding that police have actively worked to ensure peace and harmony in the state.
The response was filed following directions from the high court in November 2022 on a plea demanding security to all the churches in the state and protection of properties, including religious statues of Jesus Christ.
The plea had cited an incident where four unidentified men had allegedly vandalised the church, desecrating statues of Jesus Christ and Mary in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district last year. The plea was filed by one Jagdish Masih, president of the National Christian League, a social organisation and others. The plea termed the law and order situation in the state as “out of control” and blamed such incidents on anti-social elements, and religious leaders of a particular community, who it claimed had been resorting to giving inflammatory statements.
The police informed that all SHOs and other units in-charge have been told to ensure security for the Christian community and its religious places. Senior officers periodically conduct an audit of the security of all religious places and hold meetings with the management of these religious places. The police and anti-sabotage units are deployed at religious events to ensure no untoward incident occurs. It was further submitted that PCR vans have been deployed and areas of churches are patrolled and the management of churches have also been told to install CCTV cameras. Besides this, special checks are kept on suspicious persons and technical cells are active to monitor social media platforms regarding any hate speech video or message by miscreants against the Christian community, the court was told.
{{/usCountry}}The police informed that all SHOs and other units in-charge have been told to ensure security for the Christian community and its religious places. Senior officers periodically conduct an audit of the security of all religious places and hold meetings with the management of these religious places. The police and anti-sabotage units are deployed at religious events to ensure no untoward incident occurs. It was further submitted that PCR vans have been deployed and areas of churches are patrolled and the management of churches have also been told to install CCTV cameras. Besides this, special checks are kept on suspicious persons and technical cells are active to monitor social media platforms regarding any hate speech video or message by miscreants against the Christian community, the court was told.
{{/usCountry}}“The state and its instrumentalities are making sincere and earnest efforts to ensure a peaceful environment throughout the state,” the affidavit said, adding that at present, there was no threat to churches or the Christian community from any quarters, and police would always be ready to tackle any unsavoury situation which might arise in future.