Indian bishops seek justice for Christians fighting Muslims' land claims
Catholic bishops in southern Indian Kerala state have petitioned a parliamentary panel seeking justice for over 600 families, the majority of them Christians, after a Muslim body claimed that their land and homes were once donated as charity for Muslim welfare.
Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, president of the Kerala Catholic Bishops Conference, petitioned the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), which is studying amendments proposed to a 1995 law meant to manage donated properties of the Muslim community across India.
Father Michael Pulickal, who heads the bishops' Commission for Social Harmony and Vigilance, said the Waqf Board's claim, first made in 2019, has caused “severe hardship” to hundreds of families in the coastal villages of Ernakulam district.
The board claims an area covering some 1,000 land titles currently occupied by 600 families of various religious backgrounds was donated as Waqaf land for Muslim charity.
On Sept 25th, Priest told to media that, these families face the threat of being vacated from the land "they have legally purchased. Our aim is to ensure that no one shall be displaced from their rightful properties,” Pulickal, who has conducted extensive study into this dispute. This situation has led to serious human rights violations, infringing on their constitutional rights to live and own property,” he said to media
The Cardinal in his Sept. 10 petition, a copy of which was made available to media on Sept. 25, said the government must “take immediate and decisive action to resolve this issue.”
The Waqf Board’s claim has no legal validity and once such a claim is made on any land, “it will go through extremely complicated legal procedures. If necessary judicial and government intervention is not done in time, the land will be permanently vested in the Waqf Board,” Pulickal said.
