Arise Bharat

In a significant move, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has suspended the FCRA registration of the Tamil Nadu-based controversial Christian NGO Jesus Redeems. This action follows a complaint lodged in November 2023 by the Legal Rights Protection Forum (LRPF), a Hyderabad-based legal activist group, accusing the outfit of severe breaches of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010.

In November 2023, the Legal Rights Protection Forum submitted a comprehensive report to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs highlighting key violations committed by the Jesus Redeems that contravene the provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010. 

Here is the details of key violations highlighted by the Legal Rights Protection Forum shared from its official X (twitter) handle.

Mohan Lazarus, alias Mohan C. Lazarus, is the Chief Executive Officer of Jesus Redeems Inc., a charitable organization incorporated in Rocklin, CA, US, under Section 501(c)(3) of the American Internal Revenue Code. Jesus Redeems Ministries Inc. (US) is one of the major foreign donors to Jesus Redeems (Tamil Nadu). The recent amendments to the rules of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 clearly state that the Chief Functionary of the recipient Indian organization should not be a part of the donor organization.  

Jesus Redeems (India) received Rs. 6,21,274 from a person named BRO Devakumar VG Edwin in 2016. We found that the said donor, BRO Devakumar VG Edwin, is the Managing Director of DANGOTE Group, Nigeria. Dangote Group is a mining conglomerate based in Nigeria with extremely close ties to Sinoma International Engineering Co. Ltd., a Chinese state-owned and state-administered company. Sinoma International Engineering Co., Ltd. is a prominent member company affiliated with China National Building Materials Group Co., Ltd. under the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC). Legal Rights Protection Forum, in its report to Home Affairs, we suspected Chinese fund flow to Jesus Redeems, Tamil Nadu, and sought an investigation into that angle.

Jesus Redeems publishes monthly magazines in Tamil, English, Hindu, Kannada, Telugu, & Malayalam languages, to which Mr. Mohan Lazarus, alias Mohan C. Lazarus, is the editor-in-chief, owner, and publisher. The said magazines are separately registered with the Registrar of Newspapers in India (RNI). As per the FCRA Act, 2010 rules, the NGOs or chief functionaries of the NGOs who are engaged in publishing activity and registered under the Press Registration of Books Act, 1867, are required to furnish details regarding such publications and also give a declaration. Further, a certificate is also required to be obtained from the Registrar of Newspapers of India that the publication of the NGOs does not fall under the category of newspaper as per Section 1(1) of the Press Registration of Books Act, 1867.

Mohan Lazarus, alias Mohan C. Lazarus, is notorious for creating religious disharmony and communal tensions among different religious groups. Multiple FIRs were registered against him at different police stations in Tamil Nadu state under Sections 153, 153-A(1)(a) & (b), 295-A, 505(1)(b), and 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code for making statements against Hindu temples and Hindu Gods during a mass religious gathering.  

In the above case, he tendered an open apology and submitted an affidavit to the Honourable High Court of Madras during a petition vide Crl.OP.No.250/2021 expressing regrets for his statements during a mass religious gathering. The act of Mr. Mohan Lazarus, alias Mohan C. Lazarus, as a Chief Functionary to the ‘Jesus Redeems’ attracts the below-mentioned sections 9(e)(v), 12(4),(f),(vi) [Provisions related to causing disharmony between religious, racial, social, linguistic, or regional groups, castes, or communities] of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010, which amounts to suspension/cancellation of the FCRA registration of the said organization.

In another case, the Regional Passport Officer refused to issue a new passport to Mohan Lazarus, alias Mohan C. Lazarus, due to the reason that he intentionally suppressed the fact during the submission of the passport application that he is having 4 criminal cases pending against him. However, he got relief in the matter after approaching the Honourable High Court vide case no. W.P.(MD)No.15829 of 2020, citing ‘Right to Travel’ as his fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

Legal Rights Protection Forum’s investigation also found that foreign donations from Compassion International (USA) to Caruna Bal Vikas, a Chennai-based NGO, were entrusted to ‘Jesus Redeems’.  Jesus Redeems that it had received Rs. 1,67,68,189, i.e., more than 1.5 crore from Caruna Bal Vikas during 2009–2015 in the name of ‘Welfare of Children’.  Compassion International started donating directly into the FCRA-designated bank account of the ‘Jesus Redeems’ in 2014. In total, an amount of Rs. 1,13,04,681 has been received by Jesus Redeems from Compassion International (US) directly to its designated FCRA bank account. It clearly shows that Jesus Redeems is the primary affiliate of Compassion International (US) and Caruna Bal Vikas.

It is pertinent to note that In 2017, the Government of India banned Compassion International (US) from donating to Indian NGOs on account of various scandals involving child conversion and raising funds through child sponsorship schemes across the world and in India. Subsequently, the Economic Offenses Wing of the Central Bureau of Investigation, Delhi Zone registered an FIR in 2020 against Caruna Bal Vikas, which stated that Caruna Bal Vikas had, inter-alia, declared its long-term objective of ‘converting poor children into fulfilled Christian adults’ and thus engaged in religious activities, including conversions to Christianity, and such activities have the potential to disturb communal harmony and therefore are in violation of FCRA, 2010. 

Source: https://twitter.com/lawinforce/status/1769246895556182506