In a first in India, a court has jailed a Christian couple for five years for attempting to convert people in a northern state, considered a hotbed of anti-Christian activities. A special court in Uttar Pradesh's Ambedkar Nagar district, which deals with crimes against socially poor castes, convicted Pastor Jose Pappachan and his wife, Sheeja Pappachan on Jan.22. They were sentenced to five years imprisonment and each fined 25,000 rupees (US$300). “This is the first time we have encountered such a sentence for a suspected conversion attempt,” said A. C. Michael, a Christian leader who monitors anti-Christian activities in the country. He said the verdict and punishment “for a suspected attempt to convert will not stand the scrutiny of a higher court.” An attempt to convert is “not a recognized crime under the law,” Michael said. Pastor Joy Mathew, who has been assisting the couple, said the judgment was "biased.” "We will challenge it in the High Court, the top court in the state,” Mathew told UCA News on Jan. 23. “There was no evidence on record to substantiate the conversion charges, but still, they were convicted,” he said. “This is bad in law” if people can be convicted “merely based on unsubstantiated statements from those listed as

Indian Christians face an existential threat if the government fails to act immediately to stop the spiraling incidents of hate crimes, says an ecumenical Christian group. Incidents of anti-Christian violence rose steeply from 127 in 2014 to 834 in 2024, revealed the latest report released by the United Christian Forum (UCF) on Jan. 24. “If the trend is not stopped immediately by political will and concerted government action, it will threaten the identity and existence of the Indian Christian community in their motherland,” the New Delhi-based body of several Christian denominations said in a statement. A C Michael, a UCF office-bearer, said practicing the Christian faith in the country is going to be a challenging task unless the government reins in the right-wing Hindu groups. “Christians are being treated like they do not belong to this country,” Michael told UCA News on Jan. 24. Michael, a former member of the Delhi state’s minority commission, said that the Church’s charitable works were falsely portrayed as “a façade for religious conversion through false narratives” by the right-wing organizations. Michael Williams, president of UCF, said the attacks against the community have become “more frequent, brutal, and systematic.” “Christians who have long been a peaceful and integral part of India’s diverse

NEW DELHI: With a staggering 745 incidents of violence against Christians reported in India this year until November, an all-time high, the United Christian Forum (UCF) has called on the Modi government to establish a national-level inquiry, led by a Secretary-level official, to investigate the persecution of the Christian minority in the country. UCF National Coordinator and former Member of the Delhi Minorities Commission, A. C. Michael, in a statement, on Friday noted that when a minority in Bangladesh was assaulted, a special emissary at the Secretary level was sent by the Government of India to engage in dialogue with the Bangladeshi government. According to complaints received on the UCF Helpline, there were 127 incidents in 2014, 142 in 2015, 226 in 2016, 248 in 2017, 292 in 2018, 328 in 2019, 279 in 2020, 505 in 2021, 601 in 2022, 734 in 2023, and 745 incidents by the end of November 2024. The UCF has also slammed the politically motivated anti-conversion laws in 12 states across India, warning that the recent amendment bill in Uttar Pradesh, mirroring draconian statutes like PMLA and UAPA, could violate Article 25, as pointed out by the Supreme Court. Last year too, from January to November 2023, Uttar

India (MNN) — A newly released list by Global Christian Relief says India experienced the highest number of attacks on Christian property worldwide over the past two years. Most of these attacks targeted Christian homes. Even now, Indian Christians are reeling from a series of Christmas attacks carried out by Hindu Nationalists across the country last month, several of which took place on personal property. Prime Minister Modi has touted his commitment to peace and harmony across India, but Floyd Brobbel with VOM Canada says the leader turns a blind eye to persecution in his nation. “The silence of the authorities just perpetuates the problem on the ground,” Brobbel says. He encourages Westerners to bring awareness to state and national government authorities so they are equipped to address this issue in ambassadorial and state-related talks. Brobbel says we need to see persecution not only as a religious issue, but also as a human rights issue. Especially during holidays like Christmas and Easter, Christians in persecution hotspots like India and Nigeria are aware that any public display of religious activity could be met with hostility, Brobbel explains. Behind the attacks is a philosophy known as Hindutva, an effort to cleanse India of all religions other

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has rapped the Chhattisgarh government and sought its response on a plea filed by a Christian man who said he is unable to bury his pastor father in Chhindawada village as people have aggressively objected to it and police have threatened him with legal action. A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma expressed surprise that the body was lying in a mortuary in the district hospital and medical college, Jagdalpur since January 7, when the man died and the police have not taken any action since then. It rapped the Chhattisgarh government while seeking its response on the plea filed by the son."Leave the village panchayat, even the high court has passed a strange order. What is the state government doing," the bench said while issuing notice to the Chhattisgarh government. The matter will be heard on January 20. The apex court was hearing the appeal filed by Ramesh Baghel, belonging to the Mahra caste, challenging an order of the Chhattisgarh High Court which disposed of his plea seeking burial of his father who was a pastor in the area specified for Christian persons in the village graveyard. Relying on a certificate issued by the gram

An official of the Indian bishops' conference has questioned a Hindu leader’s claim that former Indian president Pranab Mukherjee supported converting tribal Christians to Hinduism to save them from becoming anti-nationals. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India called the claim “fabricated” on Jan. 17, two days after the media published the statements of Mohan Bhagwat, the head of the powerful Hindu group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). In a statement, the bishops' conference questioned the motive behind publishing a “fabricated personal conversation being attributed to a former president of India.” Bhagwat told a public function in central Indian Indore city on Jan. 13 that Mukherjee supported the campaign to convert Christians during a private conversation with him in 2017. Mukherjee died in 2020. The bishops’ statement questioned the media ethics of “posthumous publication” of statements attributed to a president by “an organization with questionable credibility.” It also questioned why Bhagwat “did not speak” about this when Mukherjee was alive. “It is unfortunate” that RSS, which was banned thrice and often associated with violence in India “as seen over the past several decades, is allowed with impunity to call the non-violent, peace-loving and service-oriented Christian community as anti-nationals,” said the statement issued by the bishops’ public relations officer Father Robinson Rodrigues. The RSS is seen

MUMBAI, India – A right-wing Hindu nationalist organization held a demonstration outside of a Christian church in northern India, accusing it of “unlawful” religion conversion. Members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) staged a demonstration outside a local church in Fatehpuri Colony in Haryana’s Rohtak city, Siasat.com reported. The VHP is related to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Hindu nationalist organization related to the the Bharatiya Janata Party, the ruling political party under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The state of Haryana is near the national capital of New Delhi and has a population of over 25 million people, which is over 87 percent Muslim. Christians are under 0.2 percent of the population, numbering less than 6,000 people. The BJP stresses the importance of preserving and defending Hindu identity in India, an ideology sometimes described by observers as a “saffron wave.” Since the party came to power in the national government under Modi in 2014, Christians and other religious minorities in India, especially Muslims, have complained of increasing harassment and marginalization. Several states have adopted controversial anti-conversion laws establishing penalties including prison terms for coerced or fraudulent conversion, which critics charge is often used to intimidate religious minorities. Christians say such laws have encouraged anti-Christian actions in the Hindu-majority

Hindu extremists in eastern India on Dec. 26 stripped and beat a tribal Christian woman, tying her to a tree after she recovered her clothes and continuing to torture her till she lost consciousness, sources said. While Subhasini Singh, 40, was meeting at the home of Gobinda Singh for a Christmas luncheon with five other families in Chhankhanpur village, Balasore District, Odisha state on Dec. 26, five Hindus including Badal Kumar Panda of Nilagiri intruded onto the property and began questioning them, said Pastor Sadhu Sundar Singh. The Hindu nationalists accused them of forced conversion, began to damage the house and assaulted Gobinda Singh, he said. “The men brutally assaulted Gobinda, his wife and teenage daughter,” said Pastor Singh of New Living Church in the Nilagiri area of Balasore, who had left the luncheon a few minutes before the attack as he was feeling ill. The mob then attacked Subhasini Singh, first smearing a Christmas cake across her face and then beating her, she said. As villagers stood watching, the assailants also beat Gobinda Singh's sister Sukanti Singh and her husband with shoes, sandals, slaps and fists, as well as kicked them, Subhasini Singh said. “They kicked me between my legs at least three

India (International Christian Concern) — Nearly 400 Christian leaders and 30 church groups have written a letter to Indian President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling for urgent action to address the rising violence and systemic challenges that India’s Christian community is facing. In a letter dated Dec. 31, 2024, these leaders and groups cited data saying that the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) recorded more than 720 incidents targeting Christians until mid-December last year, while the United Christian Forum (UCF) recorded 760 incidents until the end of November 2024. More than 14 attacks against Christian gatherings were also reported during the 2024 Christmas season. Indian Christians are estimated to make up 2.3% of the total population. The letter states that rising hate speech, especially from elected officials, has emboldened acts of violence against Christians. Mobs disrupt peaceful Christian gatherings and threaten carol singers with impunity. The signatories have called on the president and the prime minister for a swift investigation into attacks on minorities and regular dialogue between the government and faith communities. “It saddens us deeply that almost all political leaders … in the Union government and the regional states have chosen not to condemn them (acts targeting Christians),” the letter stated. Highlighting