Christian persecution on the rise in India: report

Dec 24, 2024

By Bijay Kumar Minj
India has witnessed a steady rise in targeted violence against Christians since 2014, reveals the latest report by a New Delhi-based ecumenical body that records attacks against Christians in the South Asian country.

The United Christian Forum (UCF) in a press statement said that “745 incidents of violence were registered on its toll-free helpline number” by Christians across India from January to November this year.

In 2023, UCF recorded 743 incidents. “As per the complaints received on the helpline, there were 127 incidents in 2014, 142 in 2015, 226 in 2016, 248 in 2017, 292 in 2018, 328 in 2019, 279 in 2020, 505 in 2021, and 601 in 2022,” the press statement added.

A C Michael, the UCF convener, said this data did not include attacks on Christians and their churches in strife-torn Manipur, where sectarian violence has claimed over 250 lives and displaced 60,000 people, most of them Christians, since it began on May 3, 2023.

“This is in spite of Article 25 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees the right to choose any religion of one’s choice,” he told UCA News on Dec. 22.

Michael, a former member of the Delhi Minorities Commission, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi “to consider setting up a national level inquiry to look into the rising incidences of Christian minority persecution in India.”

Modi led his pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power in 2014 and continued his winning streak at the 2019 and 2024 national polls.

Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state in the north, emerged as the worst province for Christians. The state recorded 182 incidents of violence against Christians, followed by Chhattisgarh in central India with 139.

The two states, ruled by Modi’s BJP, also led the other states in the persecution of Christians in 2023.

Twelve of India’s 28 states, most of them ruled by the BJP, have enacted anti-conversion laws that Christians say are weaponized by Hindu groups to target them.

Enforcement of these draconian laws varies across different states, and Indian courts have ordered a pause on them in some of them.

UCF said besides the incidents it has recorded, there were likely many other incidents that were not reported by victims for various reasons.

“Local police collude with the perpetrators of violence and turn a blind eye to offenses committed against Christians,” according to the rights group, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).

The UCF noted that there is a petition pending in the Supreme Court of India calling for strict action against vigilante groups that are engaging in anti-Christian violence in India

“Sadly, after initial hearings in 2022 the petition has not come up for hearing again,” it said.

“Now as Christmas approaches, we continue to pray for peace in our nation and hope the government will take assertive actions to restore peace and harmony amongst all citizens,” UCF added.--ucanews.com