Attacks against Christians are rising, fuelled by right-wing nationalism, while growing numbers of Christians are being arrested under anti-conversion laws.  Two investigations are underway into the alarming rise in attacks against Christians and other religious minorities in India. The United Christian Forum (UCF) has recorded 525 violent attacks to the end of August, more than for the entire previous year. The UCF say attacks are rising ‘not just year-on-year, but month-on-month’. Investigations are being carried out by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and the Indian government’s Minorities Commission. UCF has recorded 525 violent incidents across 23 Indian states to August this year. This is a sharp increase on the figure of 505 attacks for the whole of 2022, suggesting an annualised rise of more than 45 per cent. Anti-conversion laws UCF says the growing violence follows the passing of sweeping anti-conversion laws in almost 40 per cent of India’s 28 states. Most of those states are governed by the ruling nationalist BJP. And UCF say the number of attacks against Christians has risen significantly since Premier Narendra Modi’s BJP took power in 2014. Anti-conversion laws supposedly target conversion by force or allurement. But the loose wording means any kind of charitable work could be

 India (International Christian Concern) — Pro-Hindu political leaders in Uttar Pradesh, India have been emboldened by upcoming state elections, resulting in increased attacks and imprisonments against Christians.  Anti-conversion laws fuel the incidents. Believers are charged with forcing their neighbors to reject Hinduism and turn to Jesus — charges that often lead to years in prison.  Since these laws were put into place at the end of 2020, nearly 400 believers have been charged and jailed. Each month, this number exponentially increases, with 50 added in September. The Indian government calls it the ‘Freedom of Religion Act,’ yet it is anything but free.   Not surprising the morale of the Indian church is at an all-time low. Pastors have halted large gatherings, choosing instead to meet in smaller groups in member homes. Even then, Christians do not feel safe.   Earlier this month, one of these home gatherings was invaded by radical Hindus. The home was looted and destroyed, leaving the believers wondering when they would be next in line for prison time.   Please continue to pray for India, especially the states that are approaching elections. The climate is increasingly dangerous for followers of Christ, and it shows no signs of improvement.    This article is originally published on  https://www.persecution.org/2023/10/13/number-of-christians-jailed-in-india-rises-as-local-elections-near/

The son of a pastor, who was harassed and detained the previous week at the complaint of Hindu extremists on allegations of carrying out forced conversions in a village in Uttar Pradesh, was beaten at an open food joint on September 29 by the food joint owner and a staff member. Bipin Kumar, 25, accompanied a friend to Gagan Dhaba (a food joint) around 2 in the afternoon, in Semrahana village in Mihinpurwa block of Bahraich district. The friend, who belonged to a priestly caste according to the Hindu caste system, ordered his food first and then Kumar proceeded to order tea at the counter. The food joint owner asked Kumar about his caste. Though shocked at his question, Kumar answered him. “I told him that I am a lower caste (in Hindi – Chamar – which is one of the lowest castes under the Hindu caste system),” Kumar told Christian Today. The owner further asked, “’Whom do you worship?’ To which I said that I am a Christian and I worship the Lord Jesus Christ,” Kumar added. The owner began to argue with Kumar about the preaching techniques of pastors and how Christians allegedly allure people to convert. Kumar asked the owner, "How does my

CHENNAI: When there is a debate on whether the dalit converted Christians should be included in scheduled castes or should be treated as OBCS, the Ambedkar Makkal Iyakkam on Thursday demanded that the Tamil Nadu government not extend the scholarship meant for dalit students to dalit converted Christians. President of the Ambedkar Makkal Iyakkam Ilamurugu Muthu submitted a petition to adi dravidar welfare minister N Kayalvizhi Selvaraj demanding that the state government not extend to OBSS the benefits accorded to dalits. "The state government is implementing the post-matric scholarship scheme for scheduled caste students but has Included the dalit converted Christians in the scholarship scheme. 20.01% of funds is allotted for dalit students and it is not meant for OBCs. Spending the funds allotted for dalite to BCS is illegal," Ilamurugu told TOI. He also said that when dalits get converted into Christianity, they become OBCs and they have 30% reservation. "If they are extended the benefits under post matric scholarship scheme, they have chances of availing benefits under the OBC reservation too and so the state government should strictly restrict the benefits only to SC students," said Ilamurugu. Leaders like VCK Thol Thirumavalavan, however, differ from the stand and argue that dalits face

A study of 101 FIRs registered under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021 showed that more than half were in response to complaints by third parties, which means they may have no legal standing and should not have been registered by the police. Most of the third parties were Hindutva outfits that were using the law to harass Christians, while the police registered cut-copy-paste FIRs based on “prior information” and saying “bad things” about the Hindu religion. Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh: More than half of all first information reports (FIRs) alleging forced conversion to Christianity in Uttar Pradesh (UP) have no legal standing and should never have been registered by the police, an Article 14 study of 101 FIRs has revealed. Sixty-two percent of FIRs (63 of 101) alleging such conversion to Christianity are registered in response to complaints by third parties (other than the accused or victim), including Hindutva outfits, such as Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), contrary even to the provisions of the state’s controversial law on the subject. Section 4 of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021 makes it clear who can complain: “Any aggrieved

Five Christian residents of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh were recently rushed to the hospital for treatment of injuries received in an attack by radical Hindu nationalists.   Local sources said the attack was an attempt to ‘reconvert’ Christians to their earlier Hindu faith. Thirty believers were summoned to the village center and asked to renounce their newfound Christian faith. When they refused, the Hindu nationalists attacked and beat them with rods and clubs.   An ambulance was called but the mob initially refused to let it through. Five victims were eventually transported to the hospital and the others were chased away. Christians in this community have faced ongoing harassment. On multiple occasions leading up to this event, believers were threatened with violence by their neighbors to stop praying to Jesus. Christians remained strong in their faith, however, refusing to deny Christ in the face of opposition.   A Christian leader in the community who requested anonymity said, “The attacks against Christians have increased sharply in the last several weeks, as the state will soon hold regional elections. It is saddening that Christians must suffer violence in the name of religion simply because a politician wants to gain power.”   Chhattisgarh is one of the 11 Indian states

The seven-second video, marked as “Kuki”, was shared on several WhatsApp groups in Manipur In yet another horrific video emerging from Manipur, the body of a tribal man is seen being set on fire in a trench. A police official said the video appeared to be from early May and that they were investigating the case. The seven-second video, marked as “Kuki”, was shared on several WhatsApp groups in Manipur on October 8. It shows a man, in a black T-shirt and camouflage trousers, lying in a trench. The face has been bludgeoned and the body is on fire. It is not clear if the man was burnt alive. A representative of a Kuki-Zo organisation said they were trying to ascertain the identity of the person as during the violence, around five or six people from the community were said to have been burnt alive. Internet blocked in Manipur Mobile Internet has been blocked in Manipur since May 3, when ethnic violence between the tribal Kuki-Zo and the majority Meitei people erupted in the State. It was briefly restored on September 23, before being blocked again after photos of the bodies of two Meitei students who went missing in July surfaced on social media on September 25, leading to massive protests in the Valley areas. A Central Bureau

Five months after violence broke out in Manipur, ongoing divisions have dragged the state into what many experts have described as a civil war — and both sides are losing faith Sectarian violence in Manipur, a north-eastern state in India, has claimed over 175 lives and injured more than 1,000 since a conflict between the majority Meiteis and minority Kuki tribes began in May. Thousands have been displaced as well. The mostly Hindu Meiteis live in Manipur's more prosperous Imphal Valley, while the Kukis, many of them Christian or following older tribal practices, live mostly in the surrounding hills. The initial clashes were triggered by the Meiteis' demand to be granted scheduled tribe (ST) status, which would give them rights to the land within the hill regions which are allocated for use by the ST peoples, as well as reservation in education and employment — affirmative actions shared by by the Kuki communities with other tribes in the region, including the Nagas. The government has rushed tens of thousands of additional security forces to Manipur, but sporadic violence continues. Fault lines grow deeper Fighting between the two main ethnic groups has escalated since May, with civil society groups blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for mismanaging the crisis. "We are living on edge.

MUMBAI – Two incidents involving Catholic priests in recent days illustrate the increasingly complex situation for Christians in India facing a rising tide of Hindu nationalism, with one priest arrested under the country’s controversial anti-conversion laws and another suspended for joining the right-wing BJP party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In one case, a priest in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh was detained and eventually charged after going to a local police station to inquire about a church employee who’d been arrested after a complaint from a member of a militant Hindu nationalist group regarding prayers being offered in a private home. According to observers, local police were originally looking for the employee’s brother, who is also a Christian pastor, based on a complaint from a member of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad organization. Eventually four members of the family were arrested, and, when they phoned Father Sebastian Francis Babu for help, he too was taken into custody. Bishop Gerald Mathias of Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh, told Crux that the arrests amount to “sheer harassment of Christians.” “The accusation of conversion is baseless,” Mathias said, ascribing the arrest of Babu to “sheer high-handedness of the police, who are simply under control of

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has called on the Modi government to release 37 individuals across multiple faiths jailed for the 'peaceful exercise of their freedom of religion or belief'. New Delhi: The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has once again noted with concern that “religious freedom conditions in India have notably declined in recent years”. During a hearing  on ‘Advancing Religious Freedom within the US – India Bilateral Relationship’ on September 20, USCIRF highlighted the Indian government’s legal framework and enforcement of “discriminatory policies against religious minorities”, a press statement said. USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the US Congress to monitor, analyse, and report on religious freedom abroad. The governmental body makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. The hearing on September 20 discussed “enforced discriminatory policies targeting religious minorities”, the recent violence in Haryana’s Nuh , and targeted attacks against Christians and Jewish minorities in Manipur. The participants of the hearing offered policy options for the United States to work with India to combat abuses of religious freedom and related human rights in the country. “Religious