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The Church Has a Limited Role, Now Fulfilled

Superficial AIB Apology to Escape Punishment

The Law Applies Equally. No One is Above the Law

Apology Must Come from Karan Johar & on YouTube

The CSF & Community Groups Pursuing Legal Recourse

Hundreds of Emails Reach the CM & Others Condemning Delay

NDTV Program on AIB & Free Expression Weblink at the End of Email

The CSF and community groups have rejected the apology by the AIB collective that produced and distributed the abusive comedy, which also hurt Christian religious sentiments. The CSF general secretary, Joseph Dias said that an FIR was the least, the police could do. “Not that FIRs are effective as we have seen in the case of Ekta Kapoor’s Kya Super Kool Hai Hum, which we had got FIRs registered over 2 years back, no concrete action followed. But they do help assuage the hurt sentiments” he added.

According to Joseph Dias, the apology by some AIB participants to the Archdiocese of Mumbai was not acceptable to The CSF for the following reasons:

1. The Church and religious have a limited role in temporal and secular affairs, which is best left to the laity and those community leaders or groups, espousing the cause and who have been raising the issue.

2. The CSF and other activists have been shunted from pillar to post by the police, who are duty-bound to file an FIR for obvious reasons. No one is above the law and the Mumbai police image has taken a beating because of it.

3. The apology was superficial as can be seen by the wordings and if sincere should have come from Karan Johar and the actors concerned and not from non-entities. Its should have come immediately and not because they are forced. It is akin to getting hospitalized when arrest is imminent.

4. Even accepting that the Archdiocese closed matters from its side after the apology, the law must take its course. One cannot avoid criminal liability or legal consequences by saying sorry or pleading ignorance. It happened in most cases, including when an assignation attempt was made on the Pope and Graham Staines publicly forgave the killers of her husband and minor children. The criminals were brought to book and sentenced appropriately.

5. The Mumbai police’s dereliction of duty is shocking and shaken the faith of Christians. Hundreds of activists, responding to call by the CSF, from India & NRIs have emailed the chief minister and authorities for action. They have asked why the silence when it comes to Christians and said they would raise such issues, if it came to hurting sentiments of any religious community & pointed out to the 25 questions asked by CSF to Karan & Co.

6. The CSF view is that the Church has a limited role to play as the AIB collective should be hauled up for reasons other than hurting religious sentiments, like obscenity, vulgarity, outraging modesty, violating rules, stereotyping, degradation of women, disturbing social harmony, influencing impressionable minds, disseminating sexually explicit material, etc. However, most important is that civilized societies do not allow absolute freedom of expression, especially when it impinges on the rights of fellow citizens.

7. This is certainly not Indian culture, majority of which is rural, diverse, traditional and religiously sensitive, where women are worshipped as goddesses, the clergy revered and all religions treated with equal respect. AIB dare make such offensive statements on any other religions; India would go up in flames. The Christians and Catholics in particular are soft targets because their faith commands them not to retaliate violently & hence are peaceful.

8. Such acts if not punished will be repeated by others and hence, justice must be seen to be done and a deterrent put in place to avoid the situation France has faced. The CSF drew the attention of the Mumbai Police Commissioner and authorities to a highly offensive anti-Christian advertisement that appeared in a prominent national newspaper advertising a proposed play – The Missionary Position – but the CSF is still to get a response from the police.

For more info, email us at csfpost@gmail.com 09769555657 – Joseph Dias, Gen. Sec. Catholic Secular Forum

If You Haven’t as Yet Emailed Your Protest. Do So now.

If You Take-Up for Jesus, He will Take-Up for You Before the Father

Here are some statements we are objecting to:

1. Ashish Shakya about Abhish Matthew: Abhish is so unattractive that he was an altar boy for 7 yrs & not 1 priest molested him.

The Altar is sacred to the community and for minor children it is a privileged duty to serve as an altar boy at the religious ceremony of the Mass in the church. These words not only abuse the sanctity of a religious place, its clergy and religious services but also stereotypes priests as child abusers. It implies that altar boys are either available for child sex or in danger from priests, who are perverts.

2. Gursimran Khamba about Abhish Matthew: He is so Catholic that once he’s done masturbating it takes 3 days for his dick to resurrect.

The word “Resurrection” with respect to Christians refers to Lord Jesus rising from the dead after 3 days – Good Friday to Easter Sunday. A mention relating these internationally respected days to masturbation and the Resurrection is highly offensive and a sacrilege.

3. Rohan Joshi about Abhish Matthew: You sweet virginal boy. Abhish Matthew is such a virgin that in 5 days he is going to give birth to Jesus. Unfortunately Abhish Matthew is also so ugly that Jesus doesn’t love him he just wants to be friends.

Here the reference is to Mary, who give birth to Our Lord Jesus Christ, through the intervention of the Holy Spirit, despite being a virgin. It is slanderous to say Jesus does not love a person because he / she is ugly and mention of “ just wants to be friends “ is understood in the homosexual context.

If its allowed this time, it will only become worse. Do you think this is unacceptable, then please join us in asking the authorities to act.

Copy, paste, sign & email the draft below to:

hm@nic.in, cm@maharashtra.gov.in, chiefminister@maharashtra.gov.in, ashishmlclotus@gmail.com, csfpost@gmail.com, min.schedu@maharashtra.gov.in, min.rdd@maharashtra.gov.in, min.revenue@maharashtra.gov.in, ministerminority@gov.in, min-wcd@nic.in, jscpg-mha@nic.in, gautam.sunil@gov.in, ujjwal.dalma@gov.in, secy.wcd@nic.in, rajesh.khullar@nic.in

Dear Sir,

Sub: AIB Apology Unacceptable. Please Uphold the Law. No One is Above the Law

We are shocked that no action is being taken on the above. Why are the authorities silent? The CSF general secretary, bro. Joseph Dias has asked very pertinent questions to Karan Johar and the AIB team, which if you agree with even one of them, you need to take immediate action. A message must go across that the government and police are sensitive to the hurt sentiments of the Christian community in particular and followers of all religions in general.

Awaiting action from you, sending across a message that hurting any religious sentiments will no longer be allowed.

Yours Sincerely

(Your Name, Family & Friends)

Joseph Dias put across views of the groups effectively on NDTV Barkha Dutt’s We the People program despite participants who did not share the Christian opinion and an audience that was liberal, to say the least. It would seem that India is importing from the west, the very concepts they are battling against. The weblink of the program is below:

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/we-the-people/stand-up-for-comedy-do-indians-lack-a-sense-of-humour/356029

The CSF Poses Over 25 Questions for Karan Johar & AIB Team to Answer

1. You refer to Lord Jesus, Mother Mary, Church, Altar, Clergy, God and even a Muslim Santa Claus in a very abusive and derogatory manner. Is this not hurting religious sentiments?

2. Is Freedom of Expression absolute, without limitations? Can you mock religions, character assassinate, disturb social order, affect communal harmony, stereotype communities, target minorities and women, etc?

3. The content is filthy, abusive, perverted, pollutes youth and denigrates women. India is perhaps one of the few countries, where goddesses are worshiped. Where is Maa Saraswati or Durga in all this?

4. Is it true that the actual enactment was different from the script and more references to our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, besides others have been edited out of the videos before uploading?

5. AIB says "Don’t watch" and people pay and come to see AIB.... When the same is uploaded on YouTube and now despite being removed, is available on internet, to which children and others have access, it is easily available almost free. In today’s world is it possible? How valid is this argument?

6. Is this not publicly soliciting or canvassing for sex or highly paid prostitution?

7. How did the Police give permission to AIB which is in gross violation of its own Rules for Licensing & Controlling Public Amusement?

8. Assuming you got the reported 14 permissions necessary to stage the comedy play, why did you not stick to the script approved by the Maharashtra Stage Performance Scrutiny Board (MSPSB) ?

9. This is Not Humour either. The language is not funny. The script is full of abuses. Are not the Fs, Cs, BCs, MCs - swear words used when angry and not humorous or used in decent entertainment?

10. The exposure to AIB on the internet is reported to be close to three lakh hits in two days. Doesn’t this figure not also give the disastrous effect it has had on minds and the huge potential threat of evil consequences?

11. You are reported to have given lakhs of rupees to charity out of the proceeds of AIB... Do these charities not need to refund the money, knowing that it has hurt so many Indians? Or would you strip next under the pretext of a good cause?

12. Are we bringing up a generation of children, who will grow up to be like those on the show? Do we want our children to be doing this? Or do we shun bad words and protect our children and youth from getting exposed to obscenity & abuse?

13. Doesn’t this amount to raping / molesting / outraging the modesty of women - with the eyes, words or gestures? It happens everywhere, everyday and with such exposure are you not making it worse?

14. What about the image of women and their indecent representation? Here is where perverts, rapists & molesters are born? Are you not suggesting / glorifying oral or homosexual sex?

15. What does the PM and all those abused have to say about this? Is this contributing to the Beti Bachao, Beti Badao campaign or is it promoting male chauvinism?

16. It’s not only the church that is sacred. So is a child’s innocence or womanhood and if the youth of the nation are fed such fare, what kind of depraved lecherous human resources are we building?

17. Is not making fun of politicians and businesspersons is one thing; And insulting, blaspheming or sacrilege against religion and treating its revered clergy with disdain or disrespect is quite another?

18. Haven’t you reduced not just women, but also males to just a body? Sex is private and personal. Don’t we have a right of privacy at least over our bodies? And not having our minds invaded upon?

19. Are not Bollywood stars role models for millions of Indians, which makes AIB even worse?

20. Is this not reducing love among heterosexuals / homosexuality to just over-emphasized sexual / lustful acts?

21. Does society accept such behavior? The outrage it has raised proves that it is unacceptable in a civilized world. Even in liberal societies, which are culturally different from India, are there not reasonable restrictions? Why then do import what they are struggling to deal with?

22. Have you submitted the original script and the unedited recording of the videos uploaded for YouTube so that they can be checked for differences?

23. What about - Our tradition, heritage, civilization, culture, values, diversity or history?

24. Religion in India is a sensitive subject. Aren’t you causing strife between communities, especially since you all are known to belong to the majority faith? Christians are not the only ones at the receiving end. You talk of a Muslim Santa Claus. Is there any such thing?

25. What about Defamation / Character Assassination of those not at the show or in the audience, like Deepika Padukone or Alia Bhatt, who seemed to be enjoying it? Are they part of the act?

26. Are we to believe, as once mentioned - Nothing is grossly offensive unless it invites violence (Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta) and do you want us to resort to violence in the face of such provocation?

27. Are you not putting others like Vijay Nair, CEO of Only Much Louder (OML) and all those producing AIB into serious trouble with non-bailable criminal charges?

Your brother in Christ

Joseph Dias, The CSF Gen. Secretary +91 9769555657

Amid protests by various Christian groups, controversial comedy group AIB on Monday offered an unconditional apology to the community for any offence caused to religious sentiments by their jokes. The group, under scanner of the Maharashtra government for hosting the controversial AIB Knockout roast, which later went viral on the internet, met members of the Archdiocese of Mumbai to explain their point.

After meeting the cardinal Agnelo Gracias, Auxiliary Bishop of Bombay, the AIB said in a post on Facebook, “the kind Archdiocese acknowledged the fact that we have never been against any community, nor do we bear any ill will towards any community.” In its apology letter, the AIB said, "We would also like to reiterate that the jokes at the AIB Knockout were not intended as a form of persecution or malice towards any community, for that is not who we are, or what we stand for."

The group, which has FIRs lodged against it by Pune police, pointed out that after the meeting with the archdiocese that they reached a consensus that "these matters are best solved by frank, patient conversation, not by pointless rabble-rousing or politicization or by taking up adversarial positions for the sake of eyeballs."

"While performing our acts, no matter the subject, we never intend to hurt anyone, though as an unfortunate consequence of the nature of our profession, we sometimes do. We are sorry. We would also like to urge that we have the utmost respect for all religions and community and have never been against any community, nor do we bear any ill will of any kind towards any community." read the AIB letter.

Here’s what AIB said in its letter to the Archbishop of Bombay

The members of the All India Bakchod Comedy Company met with Bp. Agnelo Gracias, Auxiliary Bishop of Bombay and tendered an unconditional apology. Bp. Agnelo Gracias on behalf of the Archdiocese of Bombay accepted the unconditional apology and in the spirit of understanding and reconciliation stated that the Archdiocese accepts the AIB apology and considers this matter closed. The Content of the apology letter is given here below

To,

Cardinal Oswald Gracias

Archbishop of Bombay

We, Tanmay Bhat, Gursimran Khamba, Ashish Shakya, Rohan Joshi at AIB hereby offer an unconditional apology to the entire Christian community for any offense that may have been caused to its members as a result of the AIB Knockout. While performing our acts, no matter the subject, we never intend to hurt anyone, though we as an unfortunate consequence of the nature of our profession, we sometimes do. We are sorry.

We would also like to urge that we have the utmost respect for all religions and community and have never been against any community, nor do we bear any ill will of any kind towards any community. We also believe and support with complete certainty the notion that every community has the right to live with dignity, honour, and freedom from any form of persecution. We would also like to reiterate that the jokes at the AIB Knockout were not intended as a form of persecution or malice towards the Christian community or any other community, for that is not who we are, or what we stand for.

We’d also like to thank the Archdiocese of Mumbai for taking the time out to get its points across to us through patient, reasoned conversations with us about this issue. We are deeply grateful for the sincerity and dignity with which we’ve been received and hope that more debates and cultural arguments across the spectrum can be made with this same spirit of understanding and civility.

With sincere apologies,

AIB