Bhubaneswar, India. June 8, 2020. (Corrected and updated on June 12) The Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations (FIACONA) has come to know that a 14-year-old Christian boy, Samaru Madkami, was murdered by a group of Hindu nationalists affiliated to Prime Minister Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).  The incident took place in Kenduguda village of Malkangiri district in the state of Odisa, India on the night of June 4th. According to Pastor Bijay Pusuru from Malkangiri, a few villagers affiliated with the Hindu nationalist party tried to kidnap at least 3 Christians late night on June 4th. Pastor Bijay is the pastor of the Bethel home church where the victim and three other families have been members. As per the police report, at about 11 PM on the night of June 4th, a few villagers, including Deba Madkami, Budra Muchaki, Aaita Kabasi, Rabu Madi and a few others picked up Samaru from his home telling that someone wanted to meet him in the jungle outside the village. Then about an hour later they returned to pick up the boy’s father Mr. Unga Madkami. But because he was away, they tried to take Samaru's uncle, Madkami. Sensing reluctance in him they threatened to kill if

A new report proposes a score for each country to help determine the level of academic freedom its universities and academic centres really enjoy. India has a low score in a new global index of academic freedom, a performance that  mirrors its poor ranking on global indices of media freedom and is likely to heighten concerns about the Modi government’s attitude towards constitutionally protected liberties. The index proposes a score for each country to help determine the level of academic freedom its universities and academic centres really enjoy, and which the researchers behind the idea say could be used to understand a university’s attractiveness in addition to its infrastructure, research output, etc. Specifically, the index and accompanying report try to quantify the freedom of university scholars to debate politically and culturally controversial topics without fearing for their safety or studies, and without any external influence on the institutions’ affairs, based on a combination of factual data and the assessments of 1,800 academicians worldwide. The authors, affiliated with the Global Public Policy Institute, the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg, the Scholars At Risk Network and the V-Dem Project at the University of Gothenburg, have thus prepared what they call an academic freedom index (AFI). The index has

Officers refuse to file complaint in one case, falsely accuse relatives in another. Police in Jharkhand, India refused to register a complaint about an attack that sent Christians to the hospital for treatment, while officers in another area falsely accused the victims’ relatives in an assault that left a woman unconscious, sources said. A mob of about 400 animists of the tribal Sarna religion tore down parts of a church building under construction in Budhakaman village, West Singhbhum District of Jharkhand state, on May 10 and attacked Christians at the site, according to Suman Sinku, wife of the church pastor. “They abused the Christians present there in extremely derogatory language,” Sinku told Morning Star News. “They held Suraj Chatomba and punched his jaws and back. The assailants then knocked another Christian, Muni Chatomba, to the ground and kicked her on her face and upper body.” Another Christian woman, Bijayanthi Chatomba, ran over to rescue her but was struck in the nose with enough force for it to bleed, Sinku said. “The mob forcefully held a female Christian, stripped off her clothes including her inner garments, leaving her half-naked, and continued punching her face,” Sinku told Morning Star News. “They thumped Shiromani Chatomba’s chest.” Christians phoned police

Christians pray as others take confession during Good Friday prayer services on April 10, 2009, in the village of Raikia, south of Bhubaneswar, India. (Photo: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) Villagers in the east-central state of Chhattisgarh are not allowing Christians to bury their dead until they pay fines for not taking part in Hindu festivals and rituals. Attacks on the minority community in India continue despite the COVID-19 lockdown. Christians faced stiff opposition to burying their dead in three separate incidents in the districts of Bastar and Dantewada in Chhattisgarh state last month, Alliance Defending Freedom India reported. The Christians were told to make "restitution" for not partaking in or giving donations for religious rituals in those villages for all the years gone by, and pay an additional fine before their dead would be allowed to be buried. "It is a terrible and unimaginable thing to be denied an opportunity to grieve the loss of a loved one with dignity," ADF India said. Since 2019, the group has recorded at least 15 confirmed incidents of Christians being denied burial rights in Chhattisgarh state. After the group's legal team intervened, "the Christians were provided police protection, and in some cases even provided land by the government, for the burials to

Three Christian families in Chhattisgarh remain displaced after radical Hindu nationalists attacked them in the middle of the night leaving the Christians severely injured and homeless. The incident took place on May 20 in Sukma district's Devkhumpli village, where the Christian families were brutally attacked with sticks and sharp stones by a mob of around 30 radicals. The radicals threatened to kill the Christians if they refused to recant their faith. "It happened around 11:00 in the night," Hadme Markam told International Christian Concern (ICC). "I woke up from my sleep when I heard a big bang on my door. I was very scared because my husband was away for work that night." "Before I realized what was happening, a mob broke down the door, rushed into the house, and started to beat me. All my fear was for my child. I held her close to my chest and pushed through the mob," Hadme told ICC. Hadme managed to escape the mob in the dark, but her house was ransacked and destroyed by the radicals. "I fled for my life along with my four-year-old daughter. I was soaked in blood, walking through the thick forest. I was carrying my four-year-old daughter and was hoping we

Radical Hindu nationalists brutally beat a pastor returning home from a prayer meeting in Uttar Pradesh's Mau district on May 28. A group of unidentified individuals on motorcycles hit pastor Dinesh Kumar with sticks and the blows on his head rendered him unconscious. Pastor Kumar's wife, Mamta, told International Christian Concern (ICC) that she was "screaming out loud" when she saw her husband. "My mind went blank and I had no words. I thought something fatal took place looking at him with no movement." "I remembered he used to tell me, 'I am in the ministry and committed to taking the Gospel to the people. I know the cost and some time it may be my life'," Mamta explained. In his unconscious state, pastor Kumar was rushed to a local hospital where he received 16 stitches and treatment for other injuries. Police waited for pastor Kumar to regain consciousness in order to take an official statement against the assailants and start the investigation. The assailants, however, remain unidentified as they fled the scene before anyone could recognize them.

Unknown aggressors in Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu set a decade-old independent protestant church on fire that destroyed everything inside the building and brought down the thatched roof. Reverend Ramesh Jebaraj, who runs the church, told International Christian Concern (ICC) that he was shocked to look at the church engulfed with flames and smoke. "I was broken, and it was so painful, there was absolutely no way to save anything from inside the church. The church structure, instruments, and furniture inside the church are ten years of hard labor," he explained. Though the reason for the blaze was not apparent, Rev Jebaraj sees it as a premeditated act as he has been receiving threats to stop all Christians practices is his "Real Peace Gospel Church" since the time it started 10 years ago. The Christian leader told local media that "This appears to be a planned attack. We don't suspect anyone in particular. People of all faiths come here to pray. Someone may have done it out of jealousy, but we forgive them." Rev Jebaraj has, however, filed a formal complaint with the police, and the police investigating the matter told local media that "We have not found any motive yet. Local community has no problem. We

A man climbs down after partially chipping out the cross from the entrance of his house, after taking part in a religion conversion ceremony from Christianity to Hinduism, at Hasayan town in Uttar Pradesh August 29, 2014. Reuters/Adnan Abidi Two incidents where Christians in Jharkhand were harassed and persecuted by radical Hindu nationalists last month points at the increasing number of violence against Christians in the country even during the pandemic. On May 31, Pastor Jaiwant Tirkey from New Hulhnda village was attacked by radical Hindus who justified the assault by accusing the Christian leader of violating the COVID-19 lockdown. Pastor Tirkey is an independant pastor and was assaulted while distributing COVID-19 food relief. "We opened the church because we wanted to use the premises to prepare meals for migrant workers," Pastor Tirkey told International Christian Concern (ICC). "I was there along with a few other volunteers preparing and serving breakfast when all of a sudden, a man with an iron rod kicked in the gate." "He was shouting and attacked me. I narrowly escaped a fatal blow to my head which would have landed between my upper jaw and ear," the pastor said. In another incident on May 9, Tirpan Oraon, who converted to Christianity in

By Purushottam Nayak Malkangiri, June 17, 2020: A peaceful rally of Christians in Odisha’s Malkangiri on June 16 demanded justice for a teenage boy hacked to death two weeks ago. Suspected religious fundamentalists on June 4 killed Samaru Madkami in Kenduguda, a village in Malkangiri district. More than 350 people attended the rally and submitted a memorandum to Ramprasad Nag, Inspector In-Charge of Malkangiri. ‘I assure you to fulfil the demands made by you,” he assured the Christians. Anti-Christian groups used to harass three families who had become Christians three years ago. They had complained to the police. At midnight on June 4 , miscreants kidnapped Samaru and brutally murdered him. The memorandum pointed out that people from Dalit and Tribal communities accept Christian religion on their free will, but face threats and harassment from radical groups. “We demand justice for Samaru and for the us the Christians who feel threat in life,” the memorandum said. “We want safety and security for the family of Madkami and Christians,” it further demands. The memorandum bemoans tha the murders now roam freely in society. “They should be brought to justice” asserts the letter. It also said Christians in Odisha face persecution just because of their religion. The memorandum bemoans that Christians are ostracised

Pastor beaten unconscious in separate attack. His father away from home due in part to coronavirus travel restrictions, a 12-year-old boy in Uttar Pradesh, India heard relatives angry at his family for refusing to renounce Christ pounding on the door late last night (June 18). “It was past 11’o clock in the night when we heard them banging on the door and shouting,” he said. “Five men along with my uncle were standing at the door issuing threats that they would murder my brother and me.” His terrified mother in the Ram Ganga Vihar area of Moradabad told her two sons, the other age 20, to run to the police station for safety while she locked the doors and would catch up with them, said the boy, whose name is withheld for security reasons. They ran past her brother and the five other drunken men who were screaming threats, and she followed shortly afterward, said his mother, 42-year-old Molly James. “My brother and sister have portrayed me as a bad woman in this Hindu-dominant neighborhood for accepting Christianity,” James told Morning Star News. “They have been trying to expel my family from the area for the past three years.” Her husband, Anil James, works 116