Four evangelists arrested in India on charges of conversion
Four evangelists were arrested in Maharashtra , an Indian state on charges of trying to convert to Christianity. The incident, which took place on August 5, was reported from Saravali Talavpada village in Dahanu taluk of Palghar district. Clement de Beila, Mariam T Phillips, Pinky Sharma Kaur alias Paramjit and Parashuram Dharma Dingada, who came to visit a woman believer in their congregation, were surrounded by members of the local extremist Hindu organizations and surrounded their house and took them to the local police station alleging that they were trying conver this woman to Christianity. They were accused of trying to convert this tribal sister by tempting her. The local police have registered a case against them under Sections 153, 295, 448 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code, which include inciting enmity between different sects, housebreaking and other offences. It is noteworthy that this development comes after the pro-Hindut government came to power in Maharashtra State. According to Voice of Martyrs, the main persecutors of Christians in India are well-organized Hindu terrorist groups, local governments they influence, and nationalist Hindus. Their aim is to “purify” India into a completely Hindu state. They see the evangelicals as traitors to the Hindu motherland. Hindu organizations
India at 75: Championing democracy abroad, hollowing it out at home
Western allies are likely to ignore the country’s transition into an ethnocracy given its role in balancing China. India’s democracy faces a crisis unprecedented in its 75-year-old history. An ethnocratic imagination undermines the inclusive Indian nationalism that imbued its founding movement and that aims to consolidate its Hindu majority as the dominant ethnos. Not only do religious minorities find themselves identified as internal enemies, but members of the historically oppressed Bahujan communities who do not conform to the image of a good Hindu are sought to be marginalised. In recent years, the list of internal enemies has come to include liberals and leftists, activists who have raised issues of the environment and human rights, and anyone else perceived to be “anti-national”. Dissent is muzzled, increasingly through official edicts. Old controversies over temples and mosques are reignited, as in Mathura and Varanasi over the last few months, where claims that mosques were built upon the demolition of temples have resurfaced. Local compromises negotiated by Hindus and Muslims over centuries are challenged, and new religious flashpoints threaten to rent asunder the social fabric knitted together by India’s diverse communities. India shares its democratic degradation with many other countries across the world. This process has been variously described as
Indian prelate backs top court in media, judiciary spat
No merit in reports judges not keen on anti-violence case filed by Christians, says Archbishop Peter Machado India's Christian community has immense faith in the nation's judiciary, says Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore India's Christian community has immense faith in the nation's judiciary, says Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore. (Photo: UCAN files) A Catholic archbishop has condemned media reports saying India’s top court was delaying the hearing of a case seeking an end to violence against Christians. “I am extremely distressed about articles in newspapers that the honorable Supreme Court, India’s top court, is not taking up the matter of attacks against Christians. There is no merit in the allegation. I strongly condemn it,” said Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore in southern Karnataka province, on July 30. The prelate’s statement came a couple of days after Supreme Court Justice D Y Chandrachud criticized a section of the media for carrying news items hinting that the top court was not very keen on hearing the petition. Ucan Store “You get it published in newspapers that the Supreme Court is delaying the hearing. Look, there is a limit to which you can target the judges. Who supplies all this news,” asked Justice Chandrachud on July 27 while clarifying the
Maharashtra: Four Christian missionaries arrested in Dahanu for attempting to forcibly convert tribals
The missionaries told the tribals that they will get relief from their pains if they convert to Christianity. The villagers in the Dahanu area of the Palghar district foiled an attempt of four Christian missionaries to convert the tribals to Christianity by luring them with money. The missionaries told the tribals that they will get relief from their pains if they convert to Christianity. The Dahanu police then arrested the four Christian missionaries on Friday, 5th August 2022. The incident took place in the Sarawli Talawpada village of the Dahanu taluka of the Palghar district on Friday afternoon when four Christian missionaries entered the house of an old tribal woman spotting her alone at her home. They lured her with money to convert to Christianity. The missionaries asked her to stop practicing her faith and accept Christianity so that she would get relief from her ailments. According to a report by Loksatta, they offered her money and tried to force her into religious conversion. As the local villagers and the members of Hindu organizations came to know that the missionaries have come to the village, they quickly gathered in large numbers and took those missionaries and the old woman to the local police
Indian school manager booked under conversion law
Hindu parents complain about Islamic texts being recited during morning prayers at Uttar Pradesh school People take part in a procession on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti in Noida in Uttar Pradesh on April 17 Police in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has booked the manager of a private school in Kanpur city under the anti-conversion law for hurting religious sentiments. According to media reports some Hindu parents complained on Aug. 2 about Islamic texts being recited during morning prayers at Florets International School. However, police said no arrests have been made till today. “I am very surprised that an incident like this has happened as there were no reports of such cases in our localities in the past,” said Father Louis Mascarenhas, diocesan administrator of Allahabad. He told UCA News that it was too early to say what forces are behind the case and provoked parents to lodge the complaint against the school. “We have to wait for the outcome of the investigation,” the priest said. Kanpur assistant commissioner of police Sisamau Nishank Sharma said a case has been lodged against school manager Sumit Makhija after a complaint about Islamic religious texts being recited during morning prayers, The father of a student alleged that the seeds
Police in India Assault, Charge Pastor for Family Devotional
NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – Nearly two months after police arrested a pastor in India from his grandmother’s home, tied him to a tree and beat him, threats from officers and others have kept him from filing a complaint on the brutality, sources said. Pastor Pravesh Kumar of Amamahua, Uttar Pradesh state was visiting a sick uncle at his grandmother’s house in nearby Bhais Khur village on April 22 when police arrested him after a Hindu neighbor videotaped them singing during a family devotional on the roof, he said. The neighbor had sent the video clip to police after recording it from the adjoining rooftop, Pastor Kumar said. Officers immediately arrived and questioned him about the purpose of the visit and about their singing. When he explained that they were singing hymns, police told him they were arresting him on suspicion of forcible conversion because hymns were part of converting people, he said. “They completely ignored the fact that the family we were visiting were all followers of Christ,” Pastor Kumar said. Officers took the 26-year-old pastor to Bijauli police outpost at about 8 p.m., tied him face forward to a tree and physically assaulted him as they reviled him in coarse language, he
Hindu Nationalists Try to Demonize St. Devasahayam
In the wake of the May canonization, fundamentalist networks are continuing their campaign of online defamation, as they have with other revered Christians. Devotees of St. Devasahayam pray June 5 at the spot where the Indian saint is said to have knelt down and prayed before his execution, which has become a shrine. Devotees of St. Devasahayam pray June 5 at the spot where the Indian saint is said to have knelt down and prayed before his execution, which has become a shrine. When the Catholic Church conferred sainthood on popular Hindu convert lay martyr Devasahayam, it was unpalatable for Hindu fundamentalist networks that thrive on demonizing Christianity. With the mid-May canonization, they were upset that St. Devasahayam — son of a Hindu temple priest and trusted solider of a Hindu king — had led hundreds to Christ during the seven years he was Christian and many more after his martyrdom in 1752. As the local Church in the southern state of Tamil Nadu rejoiced over the long-awaited canonization, secular national dailies like Indian Express published laudatory features. But this flurry of news headlines over the canonization of the convert prompted a leading Hindu nationalist portal, Bharata Bharati (“Mother India”), to publish a defamatory article against
