Christian couple humiliated by family, villagers in north India

Christians in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh are anguished after police refused to act on a complaint by a couple who were humiliated by their own family and villagers for refusing to join Hindu rituals after embracing Christianity.

Balram Singh and his wife, Rani Devi, were garlanded with chappals and paraded in their village, Garaw Garhi in Hathras district, on April 20.

The villagers also threatened to boycott them until they gave up Christianity and returned to the Hindu religion.

In a complaint to the local police, Singh named his father, Shivaraj Singh, and his 16-year-old son among those who humiliated him and his wife in front of the entire village.

He demanded action against the culprits and sought police protection for himself and his wife.

However, the police refused to register the mandatory First Information Report (FIR), which contains essential information about the alleged crime, saying it was a family dispute.

“Balram and his wife are in shock and unable to speak to the media,” Advocate Ronny Solomon, the couple’s advocate, told UCA News on April 22.

“This is absolutely unacceptable that people are humiliated in such a horrible way for practicing a religion of their choice,” he stressed.

Pastor Joy Mathew, who provides legal assistance to persecuted Christians in Uttar Pradesh, said the police should have registered an FIR even if it were Singh’s father or his own son.

“Nobody has the right to humiliate and dehumanize someone,” he said.

Minakshi Singh, general secretary of the charity Unity in Compassion, which is based in Uttar Pradesh, demanded justice for the Christian couple.

“We will continue to press for registration of a criminal case against the accused,” she told UCA News.

Uttar Pradesh is India’s most populous state, with over 200 million people, about 80 percent of them Hindus.

It is considered a hotspot of religious persecution, especially against Christians, who are less than one percent of the population, and Muslims who make up close to 20 percent.

Christian leaders in the state accuse hardline Hindu activists associated with the ruling pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of targeted attacks against them, their churches, and other public institutions, by making false allegations of religious conversion.

More than 500 Christians, including pastors and a Catholic priest, remain detained in prisons across the state, charged under stringent provisions of the anti-conversion law enacted in 2021.

This article was originally published on https://www.ucanews.com/news/christian-couple-humiliated-by-family-villagers-in-north-india/112975