Old Claim About SC Ruling On 10 Years Jail for Attacking Christians Revived

The UCF National Coordinator, AC Michael, denied the claim and told us that the SC had not given such an order.

Fact-Check: The SC has not made such rulings. 

Source: The Quint

A post is being shared to claim that the Supreme Court has passed an emergency verdict to give ten years in jail for those guilty of attacks on Christians.

• The message also added, “United Christian Forum Toll Free helpline number for Christians in the country was launched today please pass it on to as many Christian people and Pastors as possible."

• "The number is 18002084545. This is the number to be contacted in case of any attack on a Church, prayer meeting or convention. A group of Christian lawyers and influential people connected to the “United Christian Forum” will come forward for immediate help. Valuable information please pass it on," it said.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot) 

We received a query about this on our WhatsApp tipline, as well.

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is this true?: There has been no such ruling by the Supreme Court.

• The United Christians Forum National Coordinator A C Michael informed The Quint that the organisation did not send this message and that the mentioned SC ruling was inaccurate.

What we found: At first, we ran a relevant keyword search to find the ruling, however, we did not find any such document to support such a ruling.

• We then contacted the National Coordinator of  United Christian Forum (UCF), AC Michael who dismissed the claim and stated that the there was no such ruling by the SC.

• He also added that the helpline number was set up by their organisation to uphold fundamental freedom and promotion of values of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity of India.

• The helpline helps people in distress, especially those who are not aware of the law of the land and the system by guiding them how to reach out to the public authorities and by providing the way to legal remedies. It was started in 2015.

• We also reached out to the helpline number. It had an automated message explaining the purpose of the helpline. The message urged people to report the incident to the police, if they are attacked.

• A volunteer answered the call and confirmed to The Quint that the helpline belonged to UCF for Christians in distress.

Additionally, UCF’s X (formerly Twitter) post on 31 January 2015 noted, “The UCF has commissioned a 24-hour National Helpline (Number 1800-208-4545) so that lawyers and experts can assist victims of violence, intimidation, coercion and illegal confinement by any criminal or political group.”

The Quint debunked this claim in 2018 as well. You can read our story here.

Conclusion: A false claim is being spread that the SC ruled ten years jail for those who attack Christians.

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