CNA Staff, Nov 2, 2020 / 04:31 pm MT (CNA).- An Indian activist and a local Catholic bishop are calling on a local government to investigate an alleged hate crime against Christians that apparently took place after the Christians refused to take part in animist prayer rituals. According to activist Medha Patkar’s report, widespread violence and vandalism against Christians occurred in three villages— Kakrabeda, Singanpur and Tiliyabeda— in the Bastar region of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh Sept. 22-23. The attacks apparently came after tribal Christians refused to take part in rituals and prayers of Sarna, an animist tribal religion. “We are saddened by the incidents and are demanding an impartial investigation to safeguard the welfare of the tribal community and bring communal harmony among different religions,” Bishop Paul Toppo of Raigarh told UCA News. “Tribals are generally peace-loving people who have a very good rapport with other faiths, but some vested interest groups want to create divisions among people in the name of religion, caste and creed, which is very unfortunate.” A group of non-Christians reportedly used wooden sticks and poles to partially destroy the thatched roofs of 16 houses belonging to tribal Christians. They also “assaulted women and children,” with many seeking refuge in

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 Suspected Hindu extremists set fire to a church in India's Andhra Pradesh state, burning it to the ground because local Christians refused to stop worshiping together. On Sept. 8, neighbors of the Christian Miracle Church, located in Ponduru town, reported flames and smoke coming out of the church building, persecution watchdog International Christian Concern reports. Pastor Prabhu Das, who has led Christian Miracle Church for nearly 38 years, and his son, Jeevan, arrived on the scene in time to witness flames engulf the church building. The pastor's car was also destroyed. Following the arson attack, the pastor filed a formal complaint with police against the unknown assailants. His son told ICC that Hindu extremists had previously threatened the church and ordered the Christians to stop meeting together. "We have encountered opposition from the Hindu religious extremists several times in the past," Jeevan said. "The radicals have threatened us to stop the church activities in the town. They have warned us of the consequences if we failed to close

A 35-year-old Christian man was shot dead and three others were injured in a deadly attack on a Pentecostal church in Amritsar, Punjab. According to reports from UCA news, seven unknown assailants opened fire on Christians when they were leaving the church after a special prayer meeting on October 23. "Four persons armed with guns entered the church and opened fire at us. I laid flat on the ground and saved my life," Jaspal Masih, son of the church pastor, told UCA News. Masih's cousin Prince Atwal, 35, died on the spot after he was shot in the head and chest. Local police have arrested three of the seven attackers and are searching for the rest. According to Manish, Randeep Gill, who had previously disrupted a prayer meeting on alleged charges of religious conversion, was leading the gang of attackers on October 23. To Masih, Atwal seemed to be the prime target of the attack because Gill had an altercation with him a few months ago. Christians and churches in Punjab were attacked in previous occasions, but the state government had not taken serious steps to contain them, Manish said. Reports from Persecution Relief, an organisation dedicated to the defence of discriminated Christians in India, show an overwhelming

Christian leaders in Madhya Pradesh are fighting a new media trend where Hindu media is publishing fabricated stories in order to tarnish the image of Christian missionaries in the country. On October 28, Bishop Chacko Thottumarickal of Indore along with a delegation of Christian leaders met with the editor of the Nai Duniya, a mass circulation daily. They asked the editor to take corrective measures after a series of articles against Christians appeared in the daily in September and October "maligning the Christian community." These articles accused Christian missionaries of engaging in conversion activities of socially poor Dalit and tribal people using foreign funds. "Initially, we did not bother, but when it continued to publish defamatory articles against us without any base, we thought it appropriate to inform the editor about our concerns," Bishop Thottumarickal UCA News. "We want the editor to take corrective measures and avoid publishing baseless articles against a community and creating ill will." "We want the editor to take corrective measures and avoid publishing baseless articles against a community and creating ill will." According to Bishop Thottumarickal, his diocese was consulting a team of experts to take legal remedies "if the paper continued spitting anti-Christian venom." Reports from UCA News said

The revelation in the investigation carried out by The Quint that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has sent emails in a roundabout manner requesting the users of the PMO’s official ID Sampark.gov.in for contribution to BJP funds, may seem highly unethical and violating all norms of separating government from the ruling Party, but for the BJP leadership, this sort of using official agencies for party purposes has become most natural in the last six years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rule. Sampark.gov.in is the official PR ID used for sending mails from the Prime Minister’s Office. It has been found that at least one lot of emails generated by the PMO's sampark.gov.in ID has allegedly been used to collect funds for the BJP. Use of government machinery to collect funds for a political party is a clear violation of the Election Commission’s Model Code of Conduct. On 21 October 2020, the Prime Minister’s Office is alleged to have sent an email blast through ‘no-reply@sampark.gov.in.’ with the subject “Rajmata was a decisive leader & skilled administrator, says PM; People in rural India get ownership rights of their homes…More in the newsletter!” When it was clicked, it was found that at the end of all

Itanagar: Hundreds of Christians belonging to various denominations in Arunachal Pradesh November 2 staged a sit-in to demand “justice for Tawang church.” The sloganeering protesters, under the aegis of the Arunachal Christian Forum (ACF), demanded that the government of the northeastern Indian state approve land allotment for construction of churches in Tawang. On October 6, Tawang Revival Church pastor Joseph Singhi was arrested for constructing “an illegal” church. The police acted on a First Information Report filed by the district land revenue and survey officer The arrest sparked widespread condemnation from the Christian community in the state. Singhi was later released on bail and the police recorded the statements of eight other members who had accompanied him. Addressing the protest November 2 rally, ACF president Toko Teki said that the Tawang church issue “is not a confrontation with Buddhist brothers and sisters of Tawang and other parts of the state.” “Arunachal Christian Forum does not believe the issue is Buddhist versus Christian as a few people are trying to paint on social media,” said Teki. “We have no intention to convert Buddhists into Christian and turn Tawang into a Christian district. We just need a place of worship in Tawang. There are Christian government employees, even health

In a heart wrenching incident in Madhya Pradesh, a young Christian woman was attacked by a group of religious fanatics who dragged her to the police station at night. Maya (name changed for security reasons), found herself trapped between a couple of policemen and a group of religious men, who were shouting threats and accusing her of forced conversions. Maya is well known by her neighbors after her prayers healed a girl from her sickness. Many even experienced breakthroughs in their lives after receiving prayers from Maya. While she prayed, she also visited people to know their conditions. During one such visit to her sister's house to get an update about the neighbor kid she was praying for, Maya was spotted by religious goons in the area. They surrounded her, accused her of forced conversions and took her to the police station. According to reports from Persecution Relief, there were no women constables in the police station. Too many fanatics and policemen were around her, accusing her of being involved in black magic and using it to convert people to Christianity. "I stood alone in the midst of these cruel people, both fanatics and police men who used foul and filthy language against me," she told

Several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders including Union ministers Amit Shah, Smriti Irani and Prakash Javadekar and other senior party functionaries have expressed their outrage at Republic TV editor Arnab Goswami’s arrest, saying the Maharashtra government has abused its power and clamped down on freedom of expression. While the leaders’ concern for media freedom is admirable, several people have pointed that BJP governments across India have targeted and arrested a number of journalists, and no Union ministers have spoken up in those cases. Here’s a list of journalists arrested just in the last few months, who haven’t got the same solidarity from the ruling party as Goswami has. The list of journalists who have FIRs against them or have been summoned by the police – but haven’t been arrested – would have been even longer. 1. Siddique Kappan Kappan, a reporter with the Malayalam news portal azhimukham.com, was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police on October 5 while on his way to Hathras to cover the Dalit teenager’s gang-rape and murder. He has been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for ‘conspiring’ against the state government. 2. Kishorechandra Wangkhem Manipuri journalist Wangkhem was arrested in October this year on charges of sedition for responding to a viral social media

Demolition of a two-decade-old concrete cross and construction of a makeshift temple just 200 meters away from the cross seemed like a targeted event against Christians for villagers in Madanpur, Chhattisgarh. In the hillock of Madanpur village was a popular cross that gathered villagers and people from nearby areas for prayers, especially during the Lenten season. When the cross was destroyed, the villagers at first did not know what led to the destruction. Arun Pannalal, president of Chhattisgarh Christian Forum, maintained that the land on which the cross stood was "not officially owned by the Church but the Christian villagers have used it for many years and the local villagers never objected to its use."  He told UCA News that “The sudden destruction of the cross is to target the Christians." According to Pannalal, right-wing Hindus perform acts in order to intimidate Christians in the regions. They specifically target the local tribal people and convert them to Hindu religion. "These new temples seek to establish that tribal people were Hindus and force them to convert to Hinduism. They also accuse Christians of forcefully converting tribal people," he told UCA News. A month ago, in Chhattisgarh’s Kondagaon district, 16 Christian houses were destroyed in the presence of government

Hindu activists campaign in villages of Jhabua district in India's Madhya Pradesh state on Nov. 3, asking people to support their demand to deny social benefits to tribal people who convert to Christianity. (Photo supplied)   Right-wing Hindu groups in India have stepped up a campaign seeking to strip tribal Christians of government concessions with the aim of stopping more indigenous people converting to Christianity. A group of right-wing Hindu activists marched through Jhabua town in the central state of Madhya Pradesh on Nov. 4. They shouted slogans asking the government to remove tribal people who have converted to Christianity from the list of beneficiaries. "The benefits of reservation meant for tribal people should strictly be given to only those who have not converted to any other religion," protest leader Azad Prem Singh told media. India's constitution guarantees social benefits such as reserved seats in government jobs and educational institutions along with educational fee concessions and financial support for socially poor Dalit and tribal people to help them move to the social mainstream. However, these benefits have been denied to Christians and Muslims of Dalit origin since 1950 on grounds that these religions do not practice the caste system. Tribal Christians continue to benefit from these concessions, but Hindu groups now argue that tribal people lose their