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 

• 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. 

• 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. 

• 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.

•    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. 

• Hindu fundamentalists in  Orissa objected to all missionary activity, and they were successful in passing a state law that prohibited religious conversions.  

• On January 22, 1999, Graham Staines and his two sons ( Missionary Family from Australia) were burned alive while they were sleeping in their station wagon. 

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.

                    1 Pr.Ram Udeshy Sahani 

                    2 Pastor Udey Raj 

                    3 Akash 

                    4 Abhishek 

                    5 Raghuveer         

                    6 Vimla 

                    7 Chinta Devi 

                    8 Sushila Devi 

                    9 Junior 

                    10 Angali 

                    11 Ramyash 

                    12 Ishwer prasad

                    13 Vikash Kumar 

                    14 Achchhe Lal 

                    15 Rajeev Kumar 

                    16 Mukesh 

                    17 Subhash Kumar

                    18 Papu Kumar 

                    19 Singfu 

                    20 Samson saimuel 

                    21 Vikash kumar bhoi 

                    22 Rakesh 

                    23 Ajay selvaraj 

                    24 Jagarnath Yadav 

                    25 Mangal Yadav 

                    26 Bhim Bahadur gurung 

                    27 Vishnu maya 

                    28 Meena Chhatri 

                    29 Dujai Lal 

                    30 Gairald Matthew 

                    31 Ravi 

                    32 Deepak 

                    33 Rohan 

                   34 Ashish Kumar 

                   35 Raju 

                   36 Moti Lal 

                   37 Dilip Kumar 

                   38 Meera Devi 

                   39 Narendra Kumar 

                    40 Dharmendra 

                    41 Rajendra Kumar 

                    42 Sanjeev 

                    43 Ram Ujagir 

                    44 Nirmal 

                    45 Prahlad Kumar 

                    46 Sri Matadevi 

                    47 Lalchand 

                    48 Ram Kumar 

                    49 Meera 

                     50 Banshi Lal 

                     51 Daya Ram 

                     52 Hridayram 

                     53 Asharfi 

                     54 Kanhaiya Lal 

                     55 Roshan Nishad 

                     56 Sumit John 

                      57 Anuragh Joy 

                      58 Pastor Biju 

                      59 Roshan Nishad 

                      60 Sumit John 

                      61 Anugrah Joy 

                      62 Anil Ram 

                      63 Premchand 

                      64 Ramawati 

                      65 Yogendra 

                      66 Ritesh 

                      67 Lal Bahadur 

                      68 Foolchand 

                      69 Mangru Ram 

                      70 Shiv Pujan 

                      71 Sujeet 

                      72 Madhu 

                      73 Ramesh 

                      74 Ramprasad 

                      75 Sapna 

                      76 Om Prakash Ram 

                      77 Ramesh Kushwaha 

                      78 Pintu Ram 

                      79 Amrit Lal 

                      80 Ramesh Gaud 

                      81 Pradeep Kumar 

                      82 Panne Lala 

                      83 Ajay Kumar 

                      84 Umashankr 

                      85 Algin Singh 

                      86 Santosh Buddh 

                      87 Mishrilal 

                      88 Gangaram 

                      89 Surendra Jaiswal 

                      90 Shivlal 

• 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.