Three churches demolished in BJP-ruled Manipur for 'illegal constructions'

Three churches were demolished by the administration in Imphal East district in Manipur on Tuesday for "illegal construction" on government land.

The demolition was carried out at the Tribal Colony in the wee hours of Tuesday in the presence of a large number of security personnel. The churches were demolished days after the Manipur High Court vacated its order for status quo on an order for eviction drive by the BJP-led government in the state.

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An official in Manipur said the churches were demolished as they were constructed on government land and without any approval or permission from the district administration.

The three churches are: Evangelical Baptist Convention Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church Manipur and Catholic Holy Spirit Church. One of the churches was constructed in 1974 but the government had issued the eviction notice to the churches and a few garages nearby in December 2020. The matter reached court after a local organization moved the Manipur High Court. But the High Court on April 4 this year vacated its order for status quo after the churches failed to provide documentary proof to establish that the churches were constructed with approval from the government.

As the administration demolished the churches, many Christian residents gathered and performed prayers in the debris on Tuesday. One of the priests said that the state government should not have demolished the churches as those were not for personal benefit of any individual or organization. "Churches teach love and unity among people. We don't teach anything bad and so we are very pained today to see how the churches were demolished with hammers," he said.

Manipur has a little over 41 per cent Christian population.