Indian Christians urge president to end abuse by Hindu radicals

Indian Christians have sought President Droupadi Murmu’s intervention to end the rising religious persecution against them by hardline Hindu groups in many parts of the country.

Christians of different denominations, united under the banner of the national front Rashtriya Christian Morcha, handed a memorandum addressed to Murmu to the district collector of Jabalpur in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on June 9.

Atul Joseph, who led the 50-member delegation, said the top district official assured them that he would forward their petition to the president for her consideration.
“We were forced to write to the honorable president as Christians continue to face violent attacks and false cases of conversion in different parts of the country daily,” Joseph told UCA News on June 10.

The four-page memorandum stated that Christians, who comprise 2.3 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people, “always upheld the constitutional values” and “secular and democratic principles” of the country.

“Despite this… right-wing Hindu groups constantly targeted us to the extent that in many states, even holding a routine prayer meeting has become troublesome for us,” it said.

The memorandum further highlighted the plight of Christians of Dalit (former untouchables) and indigenous origins, saying, “they have been discriminated against and forced to bear increasing hostilities and violence.”

The Christians also sought Murmu’s intervention in stopping the gross misuse of anti-conversion laws in many states, such as Uttar Pradesh in northern India, and central states like Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

Christian churches and prayer gatherings are targeted by hardline Hindu mobs by wrongly labelling them as religious conversion activities.

Strict anti-conversion laws are enforced in 11 states, criminalizing religious conversion through allurement, force, coercion, and other fraudulent means.

The pro-Hindu Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is the ruling party in most of these states. But the laws are often exploited to target minority faiths, mostly Christians and Muslims, rights activists say.

In Chhattisgarh, they said, “Christians are forced to flee from their villages after they were boycotted and were denied even a place for burying their dead,” among other forms of violence and discrimination.

vChristians in India report two incidents of violence per day, according to a report by the United Christian Forum (UCF), an ecumenical group that records violence against the community.

“There has been a sharp increase since 2014,” it said. While 127 incidents were reported in 2014, 142 were recorded in 2015, 226 in 2016, 248 in 2017, 292 in 2018, 328 in 2019, 279 in 2020, 505 in 2021, 601 in 2022, 734 in 2023, and 834 in 2024.

“In 2025, from January to April, 245 incidents of violence against Christians were reported from 19 states of India,” the UCF said.

The data includes physical violence, murder, sexual violence, intimidation and threats, social boycott, damage to religious properties, desecration of religious symbols, and disruption of prayer services.

The Christians have pleaded with the President to “protect their constitutional right” to freely profess, practice, and propagate their religion.

They also urged Murmu “to order a free and fair probe into all the incidents of attacks against Christians and punish those guilty” and review the “anti-conversion laws.”

John David, a signatory to the memorandum, said, “We are hopeful that the president will help us and ensure constitutional safeguards meant to protect minorities.”

This article was originally published on https://www.ucanews.com/news/indian-christians-urge-president-to-end-abuse-by-hindu-radicals/109287