Durg. On Sunday, there was a fierce fight between Christian community and Bajrang Dal workers in the city. As soon as information about the matter was received, police force from 6-7 police stations reached the spot and controlled the situation with great difficulty. According to the information, prayer was going on in a church located at Raipur Naka in Durg around 10-11 am on Sunday. Suddenly Bajrang Dal workers reached there in large numbers. He alleged that people from other religions were being invited into the discussion to brainwash them into religious conversion. Efforts are being made to lure them in various ways. Bajrang Dal workers started raising slogans of Jai Shri Ram outside the church. Seeing this, people of a particular community became angry. They started throwing stones at them. This made Bajrangi very angry. They entered the church, during which there was fierce fighting and swinging between the two parties. Someone informed the police about the matter. As soon as the information was received, around 200 to 250 police force reached there. Bajrang Dal workers were very aggressive about religious conversion. Even in the presence of the police, he raised slogans of Jai Shri Ram and said that he would

Some 30 Christians, including a Catholic priest, face an inordinate delay in securing bail and continue in jails of northern Uttar Pradesh state after being arrested on charges of illegal conversion activities this year. Bishop Gerald John Mathias of Lucknow, based in the state capital, sought prayers for their release including his priest Dominic Pinto, on March 1 after the priests' bail application was postponed for the third consecutive time. The delay in hearing the bail application is “sad and unfortunate and discouraging,” the bishop said.Pinto is among 39 Christians arrested and remanded in the first two months of this year in the northern Indian state following complaints of violating the state’s stringent anti-conversion law. Christian leaders in the state said some seven of the 39 arrested secured bail but others continue in jail. “Let us not lose hope,” Mathias said and asked Christians to “continue to pray until bail is granted.”Pinto was arrested and sent to on Feb. 5.The priest is among 15 persons, including five women, accused of organizing mass religious conversion in an area under Deva police station in Barabanki district.They were accused of violating the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021. The law criminalizes forced religious conversions. It also

MUMBAI, India – Two days after Father Joseph Attuchalil of the Palai diocese was assaulted in Kerala, Archbishop Mar Andrews Thazhath of Thrissur accused the government of “ignoring Christians in minority welfare programs.” Addressing a Feb. 25 forum organized by the Thrissur archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church in India, said the Samudaaya Jagratha Sadas – which means Awakening of Community/Society and was the subject of the meeting – was a voice raised against the growing injustice against the Christian community, The Hindu reported. The meeting condemned the increasing attacks against the Church and its institutions and demanded protection under the Constitution. “We will turn the other cheek if anyone slaps us on the one cheek. But we will definitely ask them why they had slapped us. The program is meant to bring the issues faced by the Church and the believers to the attention of the political leaders and society,” the archbishop said. Kerala is a state in southern India. According to the 2011 census, 54 percent of Kerala’s population are Hindus, 26 percent are Muslims, 18 percent are Christians. Addressing the meeting, Auxiliary Bishop Mar Tony Neelankavil asked the faithful to ask questions to those who approach them for votes. “We need to fight against vote-bank politics

The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) has placed India in its highest persecution tier in its latest global prayer guide, bumping the country up from “hostile area” to “restricted nation.” VOM’s mid-tier “hostile area” category identifies nations or large areas of nations where, despite government attempt to provide protection, the Christian population remains persecuted by family, friends, neighbors, or political groups because of their witness. Indian believers have largely faced this type of violence, including last year’s Manipur attacks, which killed more than 100. In contrast, “restricted nation” describes countries where government-sanctioned circumstances or anti-Christian laws lead to the harassment of Christians or the loss of their civil liberties. It can also include government policies or practices preventing Christians from obtaining Bibles or other Christian literature. (Christians in restricted nations often also experience persecution from family, community members, and/or political groups.) Although Indian Christians largely face persecution that reflects VOM’s mid-tier categorization, the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a key player in recent years in driving public opinion against non-Hindu Indians. “The rise of Hindutva ideology—and the open and enthusiastic embrace of this ideology by Modi and other government leaders—has had the effect of making India’s national government an overt persecutor of the church

KOTTAYAM: The Syro-Malabar Church has vehemently denounced the assault on a priest in Poonjar, Kottayam district, on February 23rd, labeling it as an egregious affront to the religious freedom of Christians and a blatant violation of the right to worship. In a press release issued by the Syro-Malabar Public Affairs Commission, the Church expressed its unequivocal condemnation of the attack, emphasizing the imperative of bringing both the perpetrators and the masterminds behind the assault to justice. The Commission underscored the disturbing trend of such attacks occurring with alarming frequency in Meenachil Taluk and urged law enforcement agencies to heighten vigilance and take decisive action. Dismissing the notion that these incidents are mere manifestations of antisocial or drug-related activities, the Commission voiced suspicions of a deliberate agenda to stoke communal tensions in the region. Consequently, it emphasized the crucial necessity of holding both the youths directly involved in the attack and those orchestrating it behind the scenes accountable before the law. Meanwhile, in connection with the incident, twenty-seven higher secondary school students, including 10 minors, have been apprehended and charged with attempted murder. Of these, 17 students have been remanded, while the 10 minors have been placed in care homes. The altercation unfolded on Friday afternoon