Persecution of Christians in India

Instances of violence and persecution in Andhra Pradesh include a mob attack on a church service celebrating Christmas and the mysterious disappearances and deaths of Christian ministers. 

•  The state has seen several attacks on churches and pastors, with incidents of mob violence leading to the destruction of multiple churches.
• 25-Mar-25 - Christian Pastor Praveen Pagadala death, murder made it look like an accident.
  • Click above to read.

• Anti-conversion laws started in 2006/2019
• Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2006
• The law was amended in 2022 to reduce penalties and prohibit mass conversion. 

1. People must give at least 30 days' notice to the District Magistrate before changing religions. 
2. Failure to give notice can result in a fine of up to 1,000 rupees. 
3. Forced conversion can result in a prison sentence of one to five years and a fine of 25,000 rupees. 
4. Forced conversion of a minor, woman, or member of a Scheduled Caste or Tribe can result in a prison sentence of two to seven years. 
5. Mass conversion can result in a prison sentence of three to 10 years and a fine of at least 50,000 rupees. 

• Marriage involving religious conversion is illegal. 

• Pastor Suraj serving the Lord in Munger district of Bihar was taken to police station during Sunday Worship service.
• Pastor Dileep Kumar, his wife, and two children were attacked, after Sunday worship, a large number of opponents beat him up and got him locked up in the police station. He was released after six hours.
• Elder Brother M.T. John from the Brethren Church in Muzaffarpur District of Bihar. A group of people came and threatened the believers accusing them of conversion and demanded that no Worship services be conducted in the future.
• 10 families in the Nawada District of Bihar, are being threatened by local extremists, to forsake Christianity and return to their former faith.  
• Brother Ashok informed, that before the worship service, a few people with weapons attempted to attack his brother, Pastor Rajesh, in a village in Madhepura District, Bihar. Later, police arrived and took Pastor Rajesh to the local police station. A case was filed by the opponents, but he is unsure of the case details as he is not allowed to go to the station.

• Anti-conversion laws started in 2000
• 651 families who had adopted other religion have returned to Hindu religion through “gharwapsi” ritual in Sakti district.
• Christians denied burial rights.
• Brother Mangal Ram, a Believer from Bastar District, Chhattisgarh State, whose paddy crop has been looted, and he has been beaten up by the villagers.
• Rev Lohr started ministry in Chhattisgarh in 1868 till his death in 1907. 

https://usicrm.org/advocacy-in-action/f/rev-oscar-t-lohr---%E2%80%9Capostle-to-the-satnamis%E2%80%9D

A total of 161 incidents of violence against Christians have been reported from January through March 15 via the helpline of the New Delhi-based civil society organization, which focuses on Christians in India. Of this number, 47 incidents of violence and discrimination were reported from Chhattisgarh. 

R1998 - Violence in Gujarat   

• Anti-conversion laws started in 2003
• Starting from the end of 1997, before Christmas of 1998, attacks started, attacks included assaults on and killings of Christians, attacks against Christian schools, institutions and shops, damages, demolition and burning down of Prayer Halls and Churches by BJP
• From 25 December 1988 to 3 January 1999, at least 20 prayer halls and Churches were damaged or burnt down and Christians and Christian institutions.
• At least 25 villages had reported incidents of burning and damages to Prayer halls and Churches all over Gujarat.
• On 20 February, worshippers in a prayer hall were physically assaulted with sticks by the village heads and the police during their prayers in Divan Tembrum. 
• On 5 March, members of the VHP brought two blind people to a Pentecostal church, demanded they be healed, then went on desecrating the stage, amplifiers and microphones in the church and assaulted the participants.
• On 21 June, a prayer hall was burnt down late at night in the Singhana Village. 
• On 26 June, a prayer hall was burned in the Lahan Kadmal village at about 8:30 p.m. 
• On 29 June, a prayer hall in Umerpada was attacked by attackers who failed to set it on fire.
• On 18 July, a church was burnt down, and the local Christians were harassed in the Bhapkal Village. 
• On 20 July, members suspected of being from Bajrang Dal and VHP burned hundreds of bibles at the I.P. Mission School, Rajkot. 
• On 23 July, Hindutva activists along with a revenue official allegedly attacked tribals in a prayer hall with sticks and later false cases were filed on the victims.
• Aseemanand claimed to have converted forty-thousand Christians and demolished 30 Churches from mid December 1998 to January 1999.A majority of the reported incidents of violence against Christians in 1998 occurred in the western state of Gujarat, the same year that the BJP came to power in the state. The year began with an unprecedented hate campaign by Hindutva groups and culminated with ten days of nonstop violence against Christian tribals and the destruction of churches and Christian institutions in the southeastern districts at the year's end.
• Read the full Report here 1998 - Violence in Gujarat   

• Anti-conversion laws started in 2022.
• Extremists barged into Pastor Vikram Eleazar's Church, in Ambala district of Haryana state, and pelted members with stones, beat the ladies and children. Church leaders were severely hurt. 
• Extremists caused ruckus at a Christmas program in Rohtak, Haryana State, saying they will not give permission for Christian programs.
• Prarthana Bhawan Church:

                       Hindutva Extremist mob swarmed the church, Abhishek Donald was 

                       at church, playing the drums, when he and fellow parishioners were 

                       attacked by a right-wing Hindu mob. During the assault, a man 

                       wielding an iron rod broke the knuckles on Abhishek’s right hand and 

                       struck him on the back at least twice, turning his skin blue. His 

                       pinkie remains twisted, rendering him unable to play the 

                       drums properly.

• The group of about 30 people attacked dozens of churchgoers, including women and children, the church's pastor.
• They came straight inside and started beating up people. They broke a chair, tore our Bible, busted the drums, and beat the kid’s hand with a rod,”. 
• On June 14, two days before CM Khattar announced the proposed anti-conversion law, Pastor Joseph and his wife were brutally attacked by radical nationalists.

                         o “I have been visiting this village for eleven years, and there was no  

                              problem,” Pastor Joseph “We were about to leave one of our church     

                             member’s homes when more than 400 people gathered in front of the 

                             house. I heard people saying that I should be shot, and I saw several 

                             people holding iron rods and other weapons.

                      o “I thought to myself that this was the end of my life,” Pastor Joseph 

                           continued. “They punched me, beat me, and told me I had to ask for 

                           forgiveness for going to that village.”

• Radical Hindu nationalists broke into an under-construction Assemblies of God Church in Faridabad and forcibly installed a Hindu idol. 

• Anti-conversion laws started in 2017.
• Christian’s burial rights/ burial grounds are denied, it’s a struggle for Christians. 
• Bro. Suboder Oraon died and was buried at 07:00 PM on 09-October-2024. But the villagers exhumed the body on 10-October-2024 and brought it from the burial place to Pastor Sakinder bada's courtyard.
• Christians of Church are facing lots of harassment & persecution from local community. 
• Christians are beaten up when they were on their way to a prayer meeting at a village in Hazaribagh district. 
• Christians are facing similar situations in other villages.
• During the Sunday worship service fanatics entered the worship place attacked Pas Vikas Kumar & the worshippers Sonehra village. 

• Anti-conversion laws started in 2021.
• 39 violent incidents against Christians in Karnataka from January to November 2021, all carried out by Hindutva organizations such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Hindu Jagrana Vedike, Bajrang Dal, and Banjara Nigama. The violence included physical assaults, sexual assaults against women, church vandalism, filming the attacks and later circulating the videos to celebrate. 
• Christians belonging to the SC, ST communities were the most affected.
• 1971 – 2.09 % Christian population decreased to 1.87% by 2011. 
• Karnataka has one of the highest incidences of attacks on Christians. Karnataka ranks third in India in terms of the number of attacks against the Christians and their religious sites after Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. 
• Pastor Samraj’s church in Karnataka, along with other Churches in the area, are being targeted by religious fanatics intending to close their worship services. 

• Anti conversion law started in 1968.
• A Pastor and his wife were returning home on their bike after conducting a prayer meeting. On the way, they were stopped by two Hindutva extremists. As these extremists started abusing and threatening them, the pastor tried to leave when suddenly the extremists attacked the lady from behind and fled. She sustained a serious head injury and a fracture in her sternum.
• Pastor and members of his congregation had been falsely accused of forcing people to convert to Christianity.
• After a month, the believers were released on bail. But that wasn’t the end of their ordeal. Religious extremists came in a mob to pastor's village and threatened Christians there to stop following Jesus.
• Local news reported that around 152 Christians from the village ‘reconverted’ to Hinduism in a ceremony known as ‘ghar wapsi’ or ‘homecoming’. Many believers held on to their faith, while others have fled the village with their families, to escape being forcibly ‘reconverted’.

 In 2020, Pastor Mundi Thado was brutally murdered by local Hindu Nationalist. He was persecuted, local villagers demanded me deny his Christian faith, when he refused, they kicked him out of the village. Pastor Mundi, loved in the forest. He led more than 20 families to Christ in five years since he was thrown out of the village and later murdered. 

• Jonath Simon, from Raigad District of Maharashtra, was told by members of the Society that they cannot perform worship there anymore.
• Demand for derecognition of Christian Schools in Ahilyanagar (Ahmednagar)District, Maharashtra State 
• Pastor Praveen Khandagale, along with Pastor Shriram and Govinda were attacked by a group of people in a village at Jalgaon District in Maharashtra State, accusing them of conversion. They were badly injured and still are recovering
• Pastor BB neighbors allegedly accused him of practicing witchcraft and religious conversion. They have also threatened to kill him. An FIR is booked against him.

Since the beginning of May 2023 , ethnic and religious violence in Manipur, a state in northeast India, has resulted in the deaths of over 200 people, the destruction of over 500 churches and hundreds of villages burned, and one of the largest violence-driven internal displacements in recent Indian history. A fact-finding team that visited earlier this month reported that the clashes were “state-sponsored,” and the violence has uprooted more than 70,000 people from their homes and forced them to seek shelter elsewhere. 

Extremists Not Questioned Despite Viral Video Probe That Reveals Complicity in Gangrape

After 20 months 1000's of people still living in relief camps with less than necessities.

• Hinduism is a majority religion in Odisha, followed by nearly 93.6% of the total population.
• Odisha was the first state of independent India to enact legislation on religious conversions. The Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, 1967, stipulates that 'no person shall "convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any person from one religious faith to another by the use of force or by inducement or by any fraudulent means"'. Hindus claim the Christian missionaries were converting poor tribal people by feeding them beef.
• The missionaries would upgrade the mud houses of the converts into brick-lime. Hindus have further alleged that the increase in the number of Christians in Odisha has been a result of exploitation of illiteracy and impoverishment by the missionaries. The Census of India shows that Christian population in Kandhamal grew from around 43,000 in 1981 to 117,950 in 2001. 
• Graham Staines was an Australian Christian missionarywas engaged in the education of poor and illiterate indigenous tribes in Odisha. He also worked among the leprosy patients in the region. On the night of 22 January 1999, he was sleeping in his station wagon when it was set afire. Graham and his two sons, ten-year-old Philip and six-year-old Timothy, were killed.
• On 16 March 1999 a Hindu mob of 5,000 attacked Ranalai in Gajapati District and set houses on fire and engaged in looting. Three Christian people were injured.

• 2011 census, Christians made up 1.26% of Punjab's population, which was around 350,000 people.
• At least twelve documented cases of violence, intimidation, and social boycott reported in December 2024 alone.
• The incidents, spanning multiple districts including Firozpur, Tarn Taran, Ludhiana, and Hoshiarpur, paint a concerning picture of growing religious tensions in the region. The attacks have particularly targeted prayer meetings and Christmas celebrations, with several incidents occurring during or around Christmas Day services.
• Religious gatherings being particularly vulnerable to disruption. In Payal, Ludhiana, a prayer meeting led by Pastor Deshraj was interrupted on December 23, when his son was attacked and sustained head injuries while playing a dholki. 
• In Kangarwal, Machiwara, Pastor Chandra Prakash Gupta was banned from conducting further prayer meetings after villagers disrupted a service at his private residence on December 25.
• In Gandhinagar, Firozpur, Pastor Vikas Masih and his family faced an armed attack on December 30.
• In Sangar Kott, Tarn Taran, an entire community of 25-30 Christian believers faces social ostracism through a complete village boycott that began on December 23. While some affected families are financially stable, many are struggling with poverty, finding relief only through the support of the village sarpanch.
• The month began with a controversial incident in Firozpur, where Dharmendra, a Christian convert, was jailed following allegations related to religious books. The incident had tragic consequences, with his father suffering a fatal heart attack during his incarceration. Upon release, Dharmendra lost his employment as a bus driver, leaving his family in financial crisis.
• Pastor Madan Lal, who had conducted Christmas programs at a local school in Tarn Taran for 15 years, was forced to relocate his Christmas service at the last minute due to local opposition. In Abohar, a congregation of 200 members led by Pastor Nirmal Masih faced disruptions during their church service on December 27.
• Jessica Singh in Akliya, Mansa. A 25-year-old and serving alone in ministry, she has been unable to resume Sunday worship following harassment earlier in the month on December 17.
• Four Nihang Sikhs, who as members of the traditional warrior group are permitted to carry such weapons, attacked Pastor Gurjeet Singh, alias Gurjeet Rinku, and his younger brother Gurdeep Singh in Sultanwind village, Amritsar District. 

• Christian brothers arrested on false conversion cases : TolSingh, Suresh, Pappu, Rajesh, Makan Singh from Banswara District, Rajasthan.
• A prayer meeting held at a house in a village, in Sirohi district, Rajasthan, was interrupted by police and the mob. 3 believers were arrested.
• In Bharatpur, Rajasthan, more than 20 people who were attending a prayer meeting in a private home were arrested on charges of forced conversions. 
• Village in Khairthal district, Rajasthan, panchayats from some villages were called on December 30 and 31 to pressure Christians to follow their traditions. If they refuse to comply, they have been asked to leave the village.
•  The Protestant bishop arrested is Rev. Ajay Umesh Kumar James of the Church of Northern India (CNI), The priest is Fr. Abraham Thazhathedathu, from the diocese of Jabalpur.    
• Among the 22 people in prison are also a headmistress and other staff of two local Catholic schools.

• The state has also witnessed targeted attacks on pastors, with the body of a missing pastor found bearing marks suggestive of an acid attack.
• The mysterious deaths of Christian ministers and the discovery of their bodies wrapped in jute bags outside the state capital, Hyderabad, indicate a grave situation of violence and targeted attacks on the Christian community.   
• A house Church in Khammam district, Telangana state, was attacked by extremists on Dec24th hindering the Christmas prayers.
• Mr. L. Raju, a government teacher from Siricilla District, Telangana state was beaten and suspended for gifting Bibles to his students as Christmas gifts.

• Anti-conversion laws started in 2018.
• The new law requires clergy who lead a person to Christ to give one month’s notice before doing so, which will spark a police investigation into the proposed conversion. Also, individuals wanting to change their religion must first get permission from the state government.
• In October 2021, a mob of Hindu vigilantes attacked a church in Roorkee, Uttarakhand. The attack  injured a church staff member and allegedly molested the pastor's  daughters.
• Pastor Nandan Singh from Nainital District, Uttarakhand, waiting for next court hearing.

• Anti conversion laws started in 2020.
• Santosh, Mishri Lal, Gangaram, Surendra and Shivkumar from a village in Sitapur district, Uttar Pradesh state have been arrested while conducting a prayer meeting on 30/12/24. He is sent to jail.
• Pastor Durga Prasad Yadav, Manoj Jacob, Sanjay Masih and 15 others from Jeevan Jyothi Centre in Jaunpur district, Uttar Pradesh state have multiple cases booked against them.
• Pastor Ashok Kumar along with Madanlal, Suraj Kumar and Munnalal from Allahabad (Prayagraj) district, Uttar Pradesh state have their case hearing.
• Pastor Jose Pappachan and his wife sister Sheeja Jose from Ambedkar Nagar District, Uttar Pradesh State. – bailed granted. 
• Anticipatory bail plea for Pastor Ram Keval, Brother Dharmendra and Brother Vipath from Ayodhya District of Uttar Pradesh State, was rejected and they are sent to jail.
• 90 Servants of God in jail in Uttar Pradesh State, India.
•  Pastor Bhim Bahadur and his wife Vishnu Maya, both residents of Nepal country, were imprisoned in Maharajganj Prison in Uttar Pradesh state for 101 days due to their faith in Jesus Christ. 

• 2011 census, 658,618 Christians lived in West Bengal, which was 0.72% of the population. 
• Madhavan an evangelist, the sole Christian convert in his extended family. His wife and son severely beat him, which he was attending worship service on 14th August at a Church in Bankura, took him home and helped the neighbors drag him into a nearby forest , poured gasiline on him and burnt him alive. Evangelist Madhavan died a brutal dealth because of his faith.
• Rev Anand Hari, pastor of the Full Gospel Evangelical Church, who was leading the prayer, and several others were severely beaten. In addition to the pastor, there were eight women and two teenagers.
• Two statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Mother Teresa of Calcutta, which were placed in two grottos outside the Church of the Sacred Heart in Morapai, West Bengal, were destroyed.