Bishops opposed to blasphemy law in Meghalaya

Catholic Bishops have expressed their opposition to any anti-blasphemy law to be introduced by the Meghalaya government.

Following protests over an objectionable picture of Jesus Christ published in a school textbook, the Meghalaya government was reportedly mulling over bringing a law to monitor such cases.

According to Vatican's Fides news agency, the Indian Bishops in a statement expressed their open disagreement to the blasphemy law.

They noted that such a law already exists in the Indian Penal Code, in an article on penalties for those who "hurt the religious sentiments of people."

Additionally, they feel such a law would lend itself to distortion and manipulation by fundamentalist groups like the case of Pakistan.

Last week, a nursery cursive writing exercise book published by Delhi-based Skyline Publications had depicted Jesus Christ with a beer can and a cigarette.

Catholic bishops outrightly condemned the blasphemous picture and said they felt "sad and indignant for this act of sacrilege."

Welcoming the legal actions taken by the Meghalaya government, the Catholic bishops appealed to the central government to "promote, protect, and defend respect for religious symbols of all communities of believers throughout India."

The publisher of the school textbook, meanwhile, said the image was taken from the Internet and was used by mistake.

"It was a human error," Inder Mohan Jha, director of the New Delhi-based Skyline Publications, told the Indian Express newspaper, blaming it on a design agency tasked with the layout and contents of the book.

"They seem to have lifted an offensive photo off the Internet," he added.

A court has issued an arrest warrant against him for offending religious sentiment.