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

Thiruvananthapuram: The Thrissur archdiocese has flayed the BJP government at the Centre and the CPM government in Kerala for not protecting the rights of Christian community. A resolution passed at a meeting organised by the archdiocese urged the centre to strongly intervene to end the attack of Christian believers and institutions in Manipur as well as to ensure their protection. BJP has been considering Thrissur constituency as one of the highly hopeful constituencies in Kerala in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The saffron party was also carrying out Christian outreach initiatives. Hence the resolution of the church could be a cause for concern for the BJP. The church accused the CPM government in Kerala of not ensuring minority welfare schemes proportionate to the population of minority communities. It also flayed the delay in implementing recommendations of the Justice J B Koshy commission report on socio-economic and educational backwardness of the Christian community in the state. This article is originally published on https://www.deccanherald.com/india/kerala/kerala-church-flays-centre-and-left-govt-for-attack-on-christians-2909627

A Catholic diocese in India’s northeastern Meghalaya state has registered a protest with the state government against the humiliation and removal of a nun from a bus due to her religious habit and faith. Tura Diocese in the tiny hilly state alleged that Sister Rose Mary, a member of the Daughters of St. Francis de Sales, was forced to get off the bus on her way from Duhnoi in Meghalaya to neighboring Assam state’s Goalpara area despite having a valid ticket on Feb. 17.The nun was mocked by co-passengers, mostly Hindus, for her religious habit and faith before she was forcibly deboarded, diocesan officials said. Auxiliary Bishop Jose Chirackal of Tura told UCA News on Feb. 22 that they have brought the matter to the attention of Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma and demanded a probe in the incident while also urging him to take this up with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswas Sarma. “When the nun boarded the bus and started the journey there was nothing unusual and it was like in other journeys in the past, but after some time the co-passengers on the bus started to mock her over her habit and also made derogatory remarks about her religious faith,” Chirackal said. After being dropped off

There Was A Huge Uproar Over Religious Conversion In Village Nari Of Kurud Police Station Area Of ​​The District. Bajrang Dal Workers Protested By Raising Slogans. On Receiving The Information, The Police Team Reached There And Pacified The People By Giving Advice. Dhamtari (Naiduniya representative). There was a huge uproar over religious conversion in village Nari of Kurud police station area of ​​the district . Bajrang Dal workers protested by raising slogans. On receiving the information, the police team reached there and pacified the people by giving advice. According to the information received, a Christian prayer meeting was organized in village Nari on Sunday. Converted people and other people of the village were also present in this prayer meeting. Bajrang Dal workers reached here after getting information and protested by raising slogans. The people of the village also demonstrated against the religious conversion. Villagers told that efforts are being made to convert people in the name of prayer meeting. Abuses are used against Hindu Gods and Goddesses and efforts are being made to brainwash them by portraying their religion as big and important. Such attempts will not be tolerated. In this regard, Kurud police station in-charge Arun Sahu says that during the prayer meeting, a dispute had arisen between two parties in village Nari. There was an argument

Meanwhile, Hindu Jagriti Sena has filed a counter-complaint against the nurses for converting the patients at the health centre into Christianity. Nine members of a right-wing outfit were booked for allegedly storming into the official quarters of a government health and wellness centre in Ratkal village of Kalburgi and accusing the nurses of trying to convert their patients to Christianity in exchange for monetary incentives. The accused, however, lodged a counter-complaint against the nurses for alleged conversion.According to the complaint lodged by one of the nurses, Ashwini, at Ratkal police station, “On February 24, two nurses, Rubika and Ashwini, filed a complaint that on February 22, some members of Hindu Jagriti Sena barged into the health centre in Ratkal village and inquired about their religion. On learning that they were Christians, the accused tried to convince them to convert the patients to Christianity in exchange for money.” The intrusion and intimidation prompted the hospital staff to alert the police authorities, leading to police intervention.Based on the complaint, police booked nine members of the Hindu Jagariti Sena, including president Shankar Choka, Basavaraj and Vishnu, under the Atrocities Act. “Based on a complaint, we registered a case against the nine members of Hindu Jagriti Sena under

A poster demanding the removal of religious symbols from Christian schools has yet again surfaced in India’s northeastern Assam state, asserting it as the final warning. The poster issued by Sanmilito Sanatan Samaj, a hardline Hindu outfit on Feb. 23, gave the ultimatum to remove statues and crosses from the premises of Christian-run schools in state's business capital Guwahati and two other major cities, Dibrugarh and Jorhat.“This is the final warning to stop using schools as a religious institution. Remove Jesus Christ, Mary, etc, from school premises,” warned the latest poster in Assamese, the state's official language. In Guwahati,  the posters appeared on the walls of Don Bosco School and St. Mary’s School. The poster asked missionaries not to turn education into a religious affair. “I suspect this is the same group with a different name but the same demand. They may be trying our patience,” Archbishop John Moolachira of Guwahati told UCA News on Feb. 26. In Dibrugarh, it was fixed on the walls of Don Bosco High School, and in Jorhat, the poster was found on the wall of Carmel School.The posters were also found in Barpeta and Sivasagar towns. Father Mathew Anchukandam, the archdiocesan vicar-general, said similar posters were found on Feb. 18 that forced Christian schools to seek

Husband filed a complaint against his wife to the Superintendent of Police, Ghantaghar police station is investigating,Udaipur. After Bharatpur division of Rajasthan, a case of religious conversion has also come to light in Udaipur. Which is being investigated by Ghantaghar police station. The matter is from the Ghantaghar police station area of ​​the city, where the police has received a complaint about a Hindu woman becoming a Christian and trying to convert her children into Christians by putting pressure on them. The woman's husband, in his complaint against his wife to the Superintendent of Police, alleged that his wife was missing along with his twelve-year-old son, who was now eager to convert his son also into a Christian. In the complaint, the Ghantaghar area man told the Superintendent of Police that his wife was reading books given by Christian missionaries for the last few months. She started going to church and putting pressure on her children to read and adopt Christian books. Even after several attempts by her husband, she did not agree and started fighting. On January 17, she went to the missionaries' place without informing her husband and refused to talk when contacted. After a month she returned home and told that she had converted to Christianity

A threat by a radical Hindu group to missionary schools across Assam to remove iconography and chapels from their premises has led to concerns among principals and church bodies in the state, prompting police to take note. In the past week, principals of several missionary schools across the state have written to their local police asking for protection against untoward incidents, with the head of a group called the Kutumba Suraksha Parishad declaring Thursday as the “deadline” for them to accede to his demands. Assam Director General of Police G P Singh told The Indian Express, “District police have been advised across the state that no untoward incident should be allowed.” On February 7, Satya Ranjan Borah, president of the radical Hindu group, announced that he would give missionary schools in Assam 15 days to get rid of “photos and statues of Jesus Christ and Mary, crosses, churches on campus”. He also demanded that elements of Christianity be removed from their morning prayers and that no teachers be dressed in vestments. He had threatened that if they did not, “we will not leave them… we will not be responsible for the consequences.”“… there is a fear that has crept among our members regarding the safety

The matter was taken up by Auxiliary Bishop of Tura Jose Chirackal.According to his statement, Sr. Rosemary, serving at St. John’s parish, Siju, South Garo Hills  had to travel from Dudhnoi to Goalpara on February 17. She boarded a bus at 11 am  from Dudhnoi and paid the fare upto Dudhnoi. “Soon after, the bus conductor and some of the passengers began to make derogatory remarks on her, her religious habit and her faith. After some time, they stopped the bus at an isolated place and she was forced to alight from the bus. The incident caused serious mental agony and harassment to Sister Rosemary both as a woman and a religious person. With the help of some other people, the Sister then took another bus to proceed to Goalpara”, the Bishop said. The Bishop said there are numerous religious priests and nuns in Assam who wear their religious dress as any other place in the country. Harassment of people because they wear a particular dress or religious habit is ridiculous and unheard of. Such incidents take place because of a false narrative and propaganda spread against a particular religion. It is the duty of any Government to take adequate steps to