Norbert D'Souza is a railway engineer and trainer from

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

who was president of the

All India Catholic Union The All India Catholic Union (AICU) represents almost 16 million Catholics in India: followers of the Latin Rite, the Syro-Malabar Catholics and the Syro-Malankara Catholics. It has 120 diocese and district units. The AICU was established in 1 ...

(AICU) for four years. The AICU represents almost 16 million

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

, including followers of the

Latin Rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church '' sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language onc ...

, the Syro Malabar Catholics and the

Syro Malankara Catholic ''Syro'' () is the sixth studio album by Aphex Twin, the alias of British electronic musician Richard D. James, released on 19 September 2014 on Warp. It was James's first album under the Aphex Twin name since ''Drukqs'' (2001). The ...

s. He held office from 1996 to 2000, succeeding Peter G. Marbaniang and succeeded by Maria Emilia Menezes. In September 1992 as vice-president of the AICU western region D'Souza participated in a three-day conference that discussed changes to the Christian Personal Law relating to marriage, divorce and adoption. The current laws did not recognize a divorce granted by a priest, and did not allow Christians to legally adopt for succession purposes. Also, Dalit Christians were not treated as members of scheduled castes, although Sikhs and Buddhists of Dalit origin were. It was agreed to campaign for changes to these laws. As secretary of the AICU, D'Souza observed that Christians had traditionally been strong supporters of the

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party, but only because no other party had taken interest in them. He noted that the Hindu nationalist

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still claimed that Christians were anti-national because they had cooperated with the British. In March 1998 D'Souza was a member of a fact-finding committee of the Indian People's Tribunal on Environmental and Human Rights that investigated attacks on a group of 200 Christian pilgrims in Maharashtra state. In February and March 1998 there were a series of attacks on Christians across India.

Hindutva Hindutva () is the predominant form of Hindu nationalism in India. The term was formulated as a political ideology by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1923. It is used by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), t ...

organizations were claiming Christians were practicing "forced conversions" and called for additional laws requiring that any conversions be reported to a district magistrate. Such laws already existed in

Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of S ...

and

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital city, capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar, and Rewa, India, Rewa being the othe ...

. Norbert D'Souza stated that "The experience of Orissa shows that such a legislation is completely superfluous because no cases in violation of the Act have been brought to the notice of the courts". He went on to say of Madhya Pradesh that "The cases of harassment against Christians include hauling the parents (second generation Christians) baptising their child to court. Therefore, now I will definitely allege that this legislation is malafide in intent". During D'Souza's term as President of the AICU the National Secretary for Public affairs was John Dayal, who later became vice-president and then president of the AICU.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:D'Souza, Norbert Indian Roman Catholics Living people Politicians from Pune Year of birth missing (living people)