ACTION COMES AFTER HINDU GROUPS REVIVE THEIR LONG-STANDING CAMPAIGN AGAINST 'PROSELYTIZING' CHRISTIANS IN UTTAR PRADESH CHRISTIANS IN INDIA’S MOST POPULOUS STATE UTTAR PRADESH ARE WORRIED THAT RIGHT-WING HINDU ACTIVISTS ARE TARGETING THEM FOR ALLEGED RELIGIOUS CONVERSIONS. In the latest incident, seven Protestant pastors were remanded in judicial custody after being arrested by police in Mau district on Oct. 10 for allegedly violating a state law that criminalizes religious conversion. The pastors, who were picked up while they were at a prayer meeting, have been charged with illegal assembly instead of violating the anti-conversion law. We will move bail applications and are hopeful that they will be out of jail soon,” said Ashish Kumar, who is dealing with their legal work. The police also detained 50 other faithful from the prayer meeting but they were let off. Two Catholic nuns who had gone to a bus stop near the prayer house were held at the local police station for several hours until evening. “Police wanted to book the sisters along with the pastors but let them go after the pastors and the faithful said they were not part of the prayer group,” said Father Anand Mathew, a member of the Indian Missionary Society based in Varanasi. “None

11 October, 2021: On 3 October, nearly 250 people ‘vandalised’ a prayer house in Roorkee and ‘assaulted’ a few people. Locals say the scale of attack was ‘new’. VHP will ‘expand’ anti-conversion drive. On 3 October, a mob of nearly 250 people gathered in front of the prayer house, before allegedly vandalising it and assaulting a few people after accusing Pentecostal evangelist Prio Sadhna Potter and those present of illegal conversions. A week on, with no arrests made yet, local residents fear an attack like this, which was “never seen” in Roorkee before, will set precedent for similar assaults, and vitiate the atmosphere in the city. The family of Potter, whose late husband pastor Dickens Rockwell Lance used to run the prayer house, is also scared for its safety as it battles a social boycott. They say that the attack illustrates the widening communal divide and is bound to become a trend unless strict action is taken against the culprits. This fear could only get stoked further by the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leadership in the region, which has threatened to expand its ‘anti-conversion’ drive against the Christian community in rural parts of Uttarakhand. VHP leaders told ThePrint that the state police must take

Christian leaders in India are demanding action be taken against a mob of 200 radical Hindu nationalists who left a church damaged and at least three Christian women seriously injured in an attack in India's northern state of Uttarakhand. The attackers accused the church of "illegally" converting people to Christianity. The Union of Catholic Asian News reports that a police complaint indicates that the mob attacked the church on Oct. 3 in Roorkee city's Solanipuram Colony and comprised members of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party and radical Hindu nationalist groups associated with the party, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal. As the service was about to begin, the mob reportedly barged into the church, thrashed the congregants and vandalized church properties, injuring at least three Christian women who were taken to a hospital in Dehradun city. Video footage of the damage caused by the attack was posted on social media. The attackers claimed the church was engaged in illegal conversion activities. The police complaint acknowledges that 200 people attacked the church, but no one was initially reported to have been arrested. However, a case has been filed against the perpetrators. "We demand strict action against them and police protection for us," Prio Sadhana Lanse, a leader in

A senior police official said that over 59 people have been detained and the videos of the incidents are being checked to identify the miscreants. October 6, 2021: More than a dozen injured in Kawardha town, on Tuesday.An altercation over two flags, one saffron and the other green, developed into 48 hours of communal tensions, and finally burst forth in vandalism and extensive damage to property in Chhattisgarh’s Kabirdham district on Tuesday (October 5). An estimated 3,000-strong mob led by Hindu organisations defied a curfew imposed by the administration to march with swords, lathis, and other weapons in the district headquarters town of Kawardha. They raised slogans of Jai Shri Ram, attacked homes and vehicles owned by Muslims, and pelted the police with stones. More than a dozen civilians and police personnel were injured in the violence. These flags were pulled down by rival groups on Sunday. Police carried out a lathicharge to bring the situation under control by early evening. The town remained under curfew on Wednesday as well. The Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad had called for a “peaceful” protest on Tuesday, which went out of control early on. After leaders from the opposition BJP, including former MLA Abhishek Singh, who is the

THREE WOMEN SUFFERED INJURIES WHILE ATTACKERS DESTROYED CHURCH PROPERTY BEFORE A SUNDAY MORNING SERVICE IN THE NORTHERN INDIAN STATE OF UTTARAKHAND Christian leaders in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand have demanded strict action against members of a 200-strong mob that attacked a church and injured the faithful in Haridwar district’s Roorkee town. The Christians were about to begin the Sunday morning prayer service on Oct. 3 when the slogan-shouting mob barged in and started abusing and thrashing them alleging religious conversion activities were being conducted inside the church located in Solanipuram locality. The attackers were identified as members of the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal in the first information report filed by Prio Sadhana Lanse, a leader of the church. She said three women sustained serious injuries and had to be rushed to a hospital in the state capital, Dehradun, while the men armed with iron rods also destroyed furniture, musical instruments and photographs inside the church. Lanse said she could recognize many from the mob as they kept threatening her to shut down the church. “We demand strict action against them and police protection for us,” she said. The police have registered a case against members of

Read the story in The Wire here A SENIOR POLICE OFFICER TOLD THE WIRE THAT THE FIR AGAINST THE VICTIMS APPEARS TO BE DUBIOUS. THE VICTIMS SAY IT IS POLITICALLY MOTIVATED, GIVEN THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS. Dehradun: A day after the violent attack by a mob of over 200 people on people praying in a Roorkee church, not only have the Uttarakhand Police made no arrests but – much to the disbelief of Prio Sadhana Lance, who manages the church – they have also registered a case against her and nine others for threatening and attacking another woman, identified as Kavita. On Monday, Solanipuram colony where the church is located saw the deployment of a large contingent of police personnel and no one was allowed to enter the church. Residents of the neighbourhood preferred to stay away from journalists who arrived at the scene. “It seems that the Uttarakhand Police is under pressure because no arrests have been made in our case and, on the contrary, the police have registered an FIR against us, which is politically motivated,” said Lance, who lives near the church with her two daughters. Two policemen have been deployed at their house. A DIG-rank police officer told The Wire that the

Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Minister Ajay Mishra has denied that his son, Ashish Mishra, was linked to the violence. October 04, 2021 - Uttar Pradesh, Lakhimpur-Kheri Violence: Minister Ajay Mishra has denied that his son was linked to the violence. Lucknow: A murder case has been filed against Union Minister of State Ajay Kumar Mishra's son for allegedly running a car over protesting farmers in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri. Opposition leaders have been barred from visiting the area. Here are the top 10 developments on this big story: 1. The violence erupted as a group of protesting farmers in Tikonia area of Kheri tried to block Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya from visiting. The protesters were upset over a recent speech by Mr Mishra. 2. The farmers claimed the violence broke out after a car in the minister's convoy ran over protesters. Visuals from the area showed arson and vehicles set on fire. Eight people, including four farmers, were killed in the incident. 3. A retired High Court judge will now probe the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri, the Uttar Pradesh government has announced. The state government has also announced that it will pay a compensation of ₹ 45 lakh and

October 3, 2021: Over 200 unidentified men and women, allegedly belonging to local right-wing groups, vandalized a church in Roorkee on Sunday, October 3, injuring several people who had assembled for morning prayers. According to the FIR registered by Prio Sadhana Lanse, the church pastor’s wife, over 200 men and women belonging to the local Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party’s youth wing, barged into the church and started vandalising it, while beating the churchgoers. At around 10 am, the mob, armed with iron roads, destroyed chairs, tables, musical instruments and photographs that were in the church. Speaking to The Wire over the phone, Lanse said that the attackers went on a rampage and smashed everything that came in their way. “The frenzied mob, shouting slogans like ‘Vande mataram’ and ‘Bharat mata ki jai’, barged into the church, which is on the first floor of the building,” Lanse said. “They started beating our volunteers and the women attackers bashed up our womenfolk.” The vandalism went on for over 40 minutes and Rajat, a church volunteer, suffered serious head injuries. He has been shifted to a Dehradun government hospital where his condition is stated to be critical. Lanse also alleged that the women