European Ombudsman registers Hindus’ complaint on religious equality in Malta

NEVADA - European Ombudsman has registered Hindus’ complaint about equality of religions in Malta and has assigned a registration number to it.

In a response to the communiqui of Bhavna Shinde of Forum for Hindu Awakening; Joao Sant’Anna, Head of the Legal Department of the European Ombudsman, wrote: I am writing to let you know that your complaint dated 20/06/2010 reached the Office of the European Ombudsman on 21/06/2010 and was assigned registration number…

Shinde’s communiqui has stated: Malta Criminal Code reportedly makes one liable to imprisonment up to 6 months for publicly vilifying “Roman Catholic Apostolic Religion”, while committing such an act against “any cult tolerated by law” makes one liable to imprisonment only up to 3 months. Please investigate it and ensure that Malta treats all religions and denominations equally in front of the law.

On this issue, Hindus recently approached various bodies of European Union (EU), Council of Europe, European Parliament; European and Malta Ombudsman; Malta President and other government offices; and even Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Malta urging them to “ensure that Malta treats all religions and denominations equally in front of the law”. The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights has already “taken note” of Hindus’ concern on this issue.

Meanwhile, in the recent past, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed and Rabbi Jonathan B. Freirich, prominent Jewish leader in Nevada and California in USA, in a statement on this issue, said that it seemed to imply that except Roman Catholic, other religions and denominations including Hinduism and Judaism were just one of the cults in the eyes of Malta. (ANI)