Virgin Mary statue torched in attack on Indian Christian community

Christians in India’s Madhya Pradesh state have been left deeply disturbed and worried about future attacks on their community after the statue was found burned and vandalised. And a spokesman for the Diocese of Jhabua, one of the region’s religious administrators, is urging Christians in the area to be calm. Rockey Shah told Asia News: “Investigations are underway.

“We presented a memorandum to the police officer and collector.

“We have asked our people to pray for peace and harmony and not to react aggressively.”

The statue, which depicted the mother of Jesus, was targeted by unknown individuals on February 3 in the town of Bhopal.

Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Christians, told Asia News that the burnt statue was in the grotto of the parish of St. Joseph, around 10km from the local archbishop’s home.

In the 2011 census, 0.3 percent of Madhya Pradesh’s 77 million population were registered as Christians. Just under 90 percent were Hindu.

Attacks on Christians and their places of worship have been on the increase in India across the last few years.

Earlier this year Open Doors USA, an organisation which serves persecuted Christians in more than 60 countries, said India was the 10th most difficult place for Christians to practice in the world.

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Christmas violence and arrests shake Indian Christians

There has been a surge in anti-Christian attacks following the election of Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government

Story by Guardian. Click on the link to go to original post. 

The strains of Hindi carols have rung out in the Aligarh Church of Ascension every Christmas since 1858. Armed police on the grounds is a more recent tradition.

This year the officers will be out in force. On Thursday night in the north Indian city, Rahul Chauhan was playing tabla drums while the rest of his Seventh–Day Adventist choir sang Christmas songs in the home of a follower.

Outside, a small group of men had gathered. One forced his way into the room. “He kicked the musical instruments before trying to attack my brother with a knife,” said Jitesh Chauhan, a singer in the group.

He claims the men cast anti-Christian slurs and damaged the instruments. Rahul and the 30 carollers were unharmed but shaken.

A group of carol singers perform in a Christian locality in Aligarh the day after a carol group was attacked with knife by a suspected Hindu activist in Aligarh.

Days earlier in Aligarh, hardline Hindu activists distributed letters warning Christian schools in the city against involving Hindu students in Christmas activities. In nearby Mathura, seven Christians were arrested by police while praying inside a home. In Satna, Madhya Pradesh state, an entire choir was detained while going door to door.

Worries about religious persecution in India usually centre on the country’s 180 million Muslims. Lynchings of Muslim dairy and cattle traders by “cow protection” vigilantes have become increasingly frequent. Hindu groups including members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) openly lobby to stop Muslims buying property in Hindu neighbourhoods.

The series of Christmas incidents has turned the spotlight on another minority. More quietly, Indian Christians are also feeling the walls close in, says John Dayal, the secretary general of the All-India Christian Council, following a surge in attacks last year. “Anything that impacts the Muslims in a different way impacts the Christians,” he says.

In 2014, Indians elected a Hindu nationalist government in a landslide. Its leader, Narendra Modi, is a lifelong adherent of “Hindutva”, the conviction that India’s culture and institutions ought to reflect an inherent Hindu nature. Religious minorities – regarded as Hindus led astray by foreign influence – are tolerated, provided they acknowledge Hindu hegemony.

Modi has repeatedly emphasised his government will promote “complete freedom of faith”, but his elevation has been a green light for radical Hindutva groups, says Dhirendra K Jha, an author whose latest book studied these “shadow armies”.

“After Modi became prime minister, these groups started thinking they have assumed power, it is their government,” Jha says. “So they have gone amok. They don’t fear law and order or any democratic institution. They are on a rampage.”

A “perfect parallel”, he says, is the growing boldness of white nationalist groups in the US under Donald Trump.

“Modi would never come out and openly help them,” Jha says. “But he rarely criticises them. Because of his silence, the message goes to the state machinery that they don’t have to take action against them.”

One popular calumny is that Muslim men are trying to woo Hindu women as part of a “love jihad”. The fear is regularly fanned by senior BJP leaders. Two weeks ago, a Rajasthan state man, Shambhu Lal Raigar, raved about love jihad as he used a pick-axe to murder Mohammed Afzarul, a migrant labourer, in an attack filmed and posted online.

For Christians the primary charge is of “forced conversions”. “It means putting pressure on people to convert, sometimes physically,” says Dayal. “But according to [Hindutva groups] it could mean anything from praying for Jesus to heal you, to offering to put you in a Christian hospital or school, to paying a person American dollars or British pounds.”

In practice, any kind of public prayer in the presence of Hindus – particularly the downtrodden Dalits, formerly “Untouchables”, whose leaders regularly threaten to abandon Hinduism – can attract police attention.

One morning in October, a group including Hindus and Muslims arrived at the Faith Assemblies of God Church for a workshop on accessing government welfare. The crowd piqued the suspicion of neighbours, who tipped off local hardliners.

“Around 20 or 30 people of this group came into the church and started threatening people,” says Joel R George, who assists his disabled father to run the ministry.

Police arrived in their wake and detained several people including George, releasing them after it was clear no religious ceremony had taken place.

“The men made videos and interrogated people,” George says. “They asked: are they giving money to you? Are they converting you?”

The roots of Christianity on the subcontinent stretch as far back as AD52, writes the historian William Dalrymple. For centuries, western wanderers in south India returned with tales of Christians who traced their origins to the arrival of Saint Thomas in Kerala state nearly two decades after Jesus’ death.

The seeds of the contemporary backlash were sown centuries later, when British preachers fanned out across colonial India to win souls for Christ, prompting several princely states to institute laws limiting conversions.

In recent decades, Hindutva ire has focused on evangelical crusades such as the AD2000 project, which sought to flood north India with American missionaries and money, aimed especially at Dalits trying to shed the burden of their caste.

Critics such as Arun Shourie, a journalist and former BJP politician, say such efforts mostly produced “rice Christians” – shallow converts swayed by offers of food and welfare. “They join out of necessity, and when necessity compels them they will join something else,” Shourie says.

Today, at least eight Indian states prohibit conversion by force, fraud or inducement, with BJP leaders repeatedly pushing to take the bans nationwide.

India’s largest international donor, the Christian charity Compassion International, was forced to cease its Indian operations in March after the government cut off its foreign funding over concerns it was using the money for proselytisation.

In contrast, Hindutva groups freely conduct mass conversions of Muslims and Christians in ceremonies they call ghar wapsi, or “homecoming”.

In this charged atmosphere, pastors and priests in Aligarh assiduously avoid the C-word. “We don’t convert. We make disciples for Jesus,” George says.

“I haven’t converted anyone in five years,” says Rev Jonathan Lal. “People come to us, sometimes they’re non-Christians, and I pray for them.”

“People see the miracles, they see the healing,” says an elder at the Ascension Church, Vincent Joel, his voice rising. “They want to come. What should we do? Chase them away?”

However many new adherents can be persuaded to file past the police for Christmas mass on Monday, Christian numbers in India will remain small.

The faith has relatively few adherents to show for its two millennia on the subcontinent, and the millions of dollars and hours its champions have spent trying to sway Indian hearts.

“Our population in India is only 2.3%,” says Joel, in the church courtyard. “If we did so many conversions we should be increasing. But we are shrinking.”

Not so, says Dayal. Worshipping “sometimes in the dead of night”, rarely registering new converts with the state, flocks in the Indian hinterland are holding steady, he says.

“Christians will survive, even as an underground church,” he adds. “We have survived here for 2,000 years.”

Christian accused falsely of insulting Hindu religion in Madhya Pradesh

Four Christians including a Pastor have been charged with insulting the Hindu religion in Sidhi in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh last month. They have been accused of defiling Hindu idols and treating them with disrespect. The accused completely denies the charges and calls it an “evidence planted story”.

Pastor Geeta Dixit

Pastor Geeta Dixit, 46, Rajpal Gharwaar, his wife Asha Gharwaar and another Christian Ruby Toppo have been falsely blamed of the act according to Pastor Geeta Dixit.

All four have been booked under Indian Penal Code 295 (Injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), 294 (obscene acts or words in public), 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).

A first information report (FIR) was filed against the four in the month of April, wherein Rajpal Gharwaar was detained by the police for two days before he was bailed out. 

This is the second time in the end of last month that another FIR has been filed against the four with Geeta Dixit named as the main accused. Both the times, the complainants were Rajpal Gharwaar’s mother, elder brother and his wife and younger brother. “They all live next door to Rajpal’s house,” said Geeta Dixit while narrating the complete story to Global Christian News.

Asha and her husband come from a Hindu ‘Rajput’ family. Asha became a follower of Christ 10-years ago after she started to visit Geeta’s church along with her ailing sister, who was also the wife of Rajpal’s elder brother, in the year 1993. Asha and her sister committed their life to Christ and faced opposition from their families. Unfortunately, Asha’s sister passed away after two years and Rajpal’s brother remarried. 

“Rajpal’s younger brother was at the verge of dying, when he was carried to my Church on a stretcher. He was prayed-upon by the Church members and God healed him completely. Rajpal’s mother and other family members have been coming to Church occasionally, whenever they were facing difficult times and wanted prayers.

“Asha’s husband Rajpal regularly got his wife to Church but never entered the Church himself until two months ago, when he saw a dream one night that Jesus descended from the sky and Asha and his children were lifted up above the ground and carried by Jesus and Rajpal was left all alone. He also saw Jesus raise a dead man to life.

“Rajpal woke very restless and wanted answers. He spoke to Asha and then to me about his dream. I advised him to repent for his sins and explained him the meaning of his dream,” narrated Geeta.

It was when Rajpal took baptism early April that his mother and brothers started to raise questions and registered a false case against Geeta, Ruby, their own son Rajpal and Asha.

“They got a Hindu idol and putting mire on it, presented it as a witness to the police, blaming me and the others of disrespecting Hindu gods,” said Geeta.

Geeta denying the allegations said, “It is completely a fabricated story. We have not desecrated the idols.”

Geeta, who is a widow and has three daughters, feels harassed and mentally traumatized because of the false case that she has to fight along with the three others.”

Geeta and the others have to appear for their first court hearing on 17 August, 2017.

The Madhya Pradesh Dharma Swatantrya Adhiniyam (Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act) prohibits religious conversion through force, allurement and fraudulent means. Changing one’s religion without informing the authorities is also punishable under the Act.

Madhya Pradesh is one of the five states in India besides Gujarat, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh which has enforced the anti-conversion laws. 

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Hindu organizations to start campaign to stop 'Hindus' from going to Church in Satna

Right wing Hindu organizations made an announcement on 2nd May 2016 at Satna that they will start a campaign to stop Hindus from going to Church according to a report published in Jansatta paper. Hindu groups claim that a large number of Hindus are being converted in the name of prayers being held every Sunday in Churches. This week itself a Hindu right wing group stormed in a Church and prevented a wedding. A leader of Bajrang Dal told the Indian express, "Because of our efforts no one went to the Sunday prayers this Sunday."

Our take: The targeting of Churches will increase because of this so called campaign. The government authorities must take notice and prevent communal elements from spreading hatred and from disturbing the harmony in society.

Try Christians for sedition says Madhya Pradesh member for minority welfare department

A member of the Madhya Pradesh Backward Classes and Minority Welfare Department who enjoys minister of state status, Laxmi Yadav, was present when Bajrang Dal activists stormed into a church in Satna on April 27 and stopped a wedding alleging the couple had converted.

As the Bajrang Dal insists Arun Kushwaha and Subhadra Kushwaha can marry only in a temple, Yadav said, “This is the first case in the country when Christians were caught red-handed converting and marrying OBCs. We will reconvert them, purify them after sprinkling Gangajal and hold a Hindu marriage for the couple. I am seeking legal opinion on whether sedition charge could be invoked against the Christians for waging a war against the country.”

Bajrang Dal leader Rajkumar Mishra, who has spearheaded campaigns against conversion, love jihad and cow slaughter and claims to have “saved hundreds of Hindu girls”, led a protest two days after the Church attack where an effigy of the Pope was burnt in front of a leading Catholic school of Satna. The protesters tried to enter the school premises too but were stopped by police.

Both Arun, 24, who has studied up to Class XII, and Subhadra insist they have not formally converted to Christianity, only undergone “man parivartan (a change of heart)”. They say their families were attracted to Christianity after their ailing parents, who couldn’t be helped by medical practitioners, were cured.
“We went to five doctors, and then the sixth (Christ) cured them, so we started believing in Him,” says Arun.

However, the Bajrang Dal men kept asking them why they were getting married in a church if they hadn’t converted, they say. The couple had chosen April 27 for the wedding as it was Arun’s birthday.

Bajrang Dal activists had barged into the Church of God (Full Gospel) in India, where the wedding was happening, followed by the local police, roughed up relatives from both sides, and stopped the ceremony. Police say they went because they were told “conversion was taking place”.

Pastor Sam Samuel says Wednesday’s was the first-ever wedding being held at the church that came up in 1998. “The presence of so many Hindus, many of whom believe in our way, had the right wing worried. Police abused us in front of the activists and later apologised saying they had to put up an act,” he says. He says he was also asked by police not to visit the church or his first-floor residence that night and later not to venture out of his home.

Amid claims and counterclaims over conversion, and proof demanded by right-wing activists, police checked Subhadra’s Class VIII mark-sheet and found that she was 10 days short of turning 18. Nine persons, including six pastors and Arun, were arrested and a case registered under the anti-conversion law, prevention of child marriage law and the IPC section related to hurting religious sentiments. They were released on bail late in the night.

“No one misbehaved with me but they pushed Arun around and asked how and why did he convert to Christianity,” says a distraught Subhadra.

According to Arun, Bajrang Dal men told them, “If you are ready to marry according to Hindu traditions, we will take you to a temple and perform the wedding on a grand scale. If you insist on marrying in a church, we have to take you to the police station.”

Her father Loknath Kushwaha claims his daughter is actually 19 years old and that her marksheet wrongly mentioned her birth year as 1998. He has so far failed to provide proof from the hospital where she was born but shows three marksheets of his youngest son Jashwant that mention different years of birth.

“Who gave the Bajrang Dal the right to storm into a church, beat up pastors and insult all of us?” asks Loknath, calling their action an “atikraman (encroachment)”. “Punish us if she is a minor but why insult us like this? We are vishwasu (people of faith). When both sides are ready to marry, how can others interfere?”

The family had printed invitations and many relatives had come for the wedding when the Bajrang Dal attacked. He is also angry with pastor Samuel for not going through Subhadra’s marksheet before fixing the wedding day at Arun’s insistence. “He should have waited till her birthday and we would not have ended up like this,” he says, pointing to his despondent daughter.

Police dubbed Loknath “mentally unstable”, claiming relatives have told them this. Subhadra’s 44-year-old mother Munni says she used to get “visits from ghosts” till 10 years ago and no doctors could cure her. She admits to have received baptism at Gaughat in Allahabad, but adds, “no one has given us money and we have not paid anything. I turned a believer after I was cured.”

Loknath’s elder brother Gayaprasad, who incidentally is a BJP member, having joined the party after spending more than two decades in the BSP, was among those present at the wedding.

Later, he filed the complaint that led to the arrests. He claims police made him a scapegoat by getting him to file the complaint. The grocer also says that while his brother has changed his faith, he continues to be a Hindu. “I have seen weddings of other community but had never seen a Christian marriage, so I was curious and went to the church,” he claims.

Bajrang Dal leader Mishra says their protests were justified. “The couple have converted but haven’t changed their names to get the benefits that are due to OBCs.”

Pointing out that Madhya Pradesh’s anti-conversion law requires those who change their faith to notify district authorities, he adds, “If they have already converted or are set to convert, where is the letter of permission?”

Meanwhile, Arun and Subhadra remain determined to marry. “I am not scared by what happened but it’s at the back of my mind that I may be harmed when I am out. We will marry again when she becomes major in a few days. It will be a court marriage because we have no other option,” he says, adding that he would henceforth see whether authorities take similar action in cases of other Hindu minors getting married.

Standing at her home that is still decorated, for what would have been the first wedding in the family, Subhadra nods, “I will marry him.”

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Madhya Pradesh Police, Bajrang Dal stop church wedding in Satna

The Madhya Pradesh Police Wednesday entered a church in Satna and stopped a wedding ceremony following a complaint by the Bajrang Dal that the bride and the groom had been unlawfully converted to Christianity.

Accompanied by Bajrang Dal activists, a Kolgawan police team entered the Church of God in India and arrested 10 people, including pastor Sam Samuel and the groom’s parents.

CSP (Satna) Sitaram Yadav said the bride was a minor as she was 10 days short of turning 18. He said the couple had converted to Christianity four years ago, but district authorities were not informed, which is a crime under the state’s anti-conversion legislation. Satna SP Mithilesh Shukla also claimed that the girl is “a Hindu and a minor”.

“Bajrang Dal informed police that members of the Kushwaha community were being converted to Christianity at the church. We registered an FIR on a complaint by the bride’s uncle,” Yadav said, adding that her father is not mentally sound. The groom, Ajay Kushwaha, 24, works with a private firm.

Besides Sections 3 and 4 of the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, police have invoked IPC Section 295 (A) (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings) and Section 14 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act.

Church spokesman Mariyosh Joseph called the charges false and said the bride and groom were Christians. He said the Bajrang Dal and the RSS were behind the complaint.

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Official panel upsets church leaders in central India

A official panel has recommended that the minority status given to educational institutions in India's Madhya Pradesh state be reassessed, a move that church leaders said is part of an anti-Christian agenda pushed by the state's ruling Hindu nationalist party.

The state minority commission, a government-appointed team to protect the interests of religious and linguistic minorities, last week recommended the government investigate the certificates of minority-run educational institutions in the state.

Church leaders said the commission's recommendation is aimed at curtailing the freedom and autonomy of their schools, which were established following a constitutional guarantee given to religious and linguistic minorities to establish and run such institutions.

A certified minority institution also enjoys certain amount of autonomy in staff appointments and student admissions.

The move can be seen as part of anti-Christian agenda and it "halt the standard of the education in the state," said Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal reacting to the news of the state minority commission's recommendation.

"It is highly disappointing to note that the minority panel has given a report against the minorities to the state government," said Father Maria Stephen, spokesman for the regional bishops' council.

"The minority commission is meant for protecting and promoting the welfare of the minority institutions but by this move it has failed to do its duty," Father Stephen said.

Violence against minorities

Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has governed Madhya Pradesh since 2003; the state has witnessed several cases of violence against minority Christians and Muslims.

Christians and Muslims leaders say hard-line Hindu groups orchestrate violence with tacit government support.

Mumbai rights group Catholic Secular Forum in its annual report released in January said the state witnessed 29 major incidents of violence against Christians in 2015 alone.

Against such a background, church leaders believe a recommendation to scrutinize the already-awarded certificate will become a chance for Hindu hard-liners and their supporters in the bureaucracy to harasses missionaries and their schools.

However, state minority commission secretary Nisar Ahmed told ucanews.com that the commission's recommendation aims to root out corruption in awarding minority right certificates.

Some of the certificates have been suspected of being issued to "undeserving schools," said Ahmed.

A law stipulates that privately owned and managed schools should earmark 25 percent of seats to poor students from the locality and the government will pay for them.

But many such schools do not want to admit poor students as they think it will bring down the status of their institution, Ahmed said.

Minority schools are exempted from this law, Ahmed said.

He added that some "underserving private schools" have secured minority certificates to avoid admitting of poor students into their schools.

The commission recommended a "detailed probe into the minority right certificates issued to schools in the past three years and it has nothing to do with the church schools," he added.

However, Father Stephen said he remains unconvinced by Ahmed's explanation.

Christian leaders were "not taken into confidence" before making such a "recommendation for probe," said Father Stephen.

They have also not clarified which community has breached the guidelines, which he said, "paints a bad picture" of all the religious minorities.

Besides Christians and Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Zoroastrians and Jains are also recognized as minority communities in India who can establish and manage their own education institutions.

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Madhya Pradesh Christians want Good Friday break back

Political parties and labor unions have joined Christians in demanding that Good Friday be reinstated as a public holiday in India's Madhya Pradesh state.

Church officials and politicians said the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party state government has deliberately not listed the day as a holiday in the official gazette, following its policy of overlooking other religions.

"This shows the government's hatred towards Christians," said K.K. Mishra spokesperson for the state chapter of the opposition Congress Party.

Good Friday was recognized as a statewide holiday until a gazette notification issued on Nov. 26 failed to have it listed as one. Good Friday is a holiday in most of India.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which came to power in the state 13 years ago, has been gradually promoting a Hindu ideology, critics have said.

"It deliberately made Good Friday a working day," Mishra told ucanews.com.

Father Maria Stephen, spokesman for Bhopal Archdiocese, said the government's move is unfortunate and will divide people along "sectarian lines, and eventually destroy peace and harmony."

The decision undermines the spirit of the Indian constitution, which is based on secular principles, the priest said. Such ideas will also sow the seeds of fundamentalism, said Father Stephen. The state government should reconsider the decision, he added.

Communists have also weighed in on the issue. Badal Saroj, state secretary of the Communist Party of India, said Good Friday is not just a Christian holy day. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ provides a message for everyone working for truth and human equality, he said.

The United Forum of Bank Unions said it sent a memorandum to state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to tell him that Good Friday should be a holiday.

However, Anthony DeSa, the state's chief secretary, said no political group or employees union have approached him so far about having Good Friday off.

There are 59 millions Christians in India which has a total population of 1.3 billion people.

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Village fines people for saying 'Christian' prayers in Madhya Pradesh

Julwania: A village council in central India has fined four people for practicing Christianity and is closely watching them to prevent them continuing to do so.

The Dahar village council in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, fined the four 5,000 rupees (US$75) each, Shankar Singh, one of those fined told ucanews.com Feb 4.

The punishment on Jan. 19 came five days after police arrested and later released 12 people who had gathered at Singh's house.

The arrests followed accusations by a Hindu group that the people at the gathering were attempting to convert to Christianity.

Members of the Hindu group surrounded the house and called police, Singh said.

"We are under tremendous pressure to give up our faith in Christ," the 40-year-old told ucanews.com, adding that he had been prevented from leaving the village for the past two weeks.

He and the other three denied allegations they had converted to Christianity or indulged in any conversion activity.

"I am a member of the Bhilala tribe and continue to be in it," Singh said.

"I'm simply happy to attend Christian meetings and prayers, which have helped me overcome my financial worries, alcoholism, unhappiness and other negativities in my life."

The state, run by pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party, has an anti-conversion law that criminalizes conversion if done without permission from government authorities. Fines and jail terms are stipulated for those involved in "fraudulent" and "forced" conversion and for "alluring" people to change their religion.

Fined for breaching harmony

Singh recounted that for more than two weeks he has been closely watched by a self-appointed "vigilance team" and that he and the other people fined were "prevented from leaving the village."
The village of some 2,000 people has only four people attending Christian prayers, the rest follow tribal traditions, Singh said.

Jurla Bhai, 36, who also was fined, said the council threatened "to expell us from the village after accusing us of converting to Christianity and going against local traditions."

Bhai also denied converting.

Village headman Mukud Randa confirmed the imposition of the fines.

They were fined for "breaching peace and harmony" in the village and "picking arguments with their own family members," he said.

In breaching harmony, "they were refusing to offer prayers and sacrifices to their goddesses and eat food offered in our worship," Randa said.

"This led to family discord and the fine was to discipline them and to keep the community together," he said.

Those wanting to follow Christianity are facing a "hostile situation," according to Jagdish Mehara, a local minister, who was among the 12 arrested, told ucanews.com

Christians have been opposing the state's anti-conversion laws on the grounds that they violate religious freedom as enshrined in the Indian Constitution.

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Blind couple among 13 in Madhya Pradesh held for ‘conversion’

Madhya Pradesh police have arrested 13 people, including a blind couple, for allegedly trying to convert a few residents of Dehar village in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district to Christianity.

Officers from the Kukshi station said they had also launched a search for four more persons in connection with the alleged conversion attempt in the house of a local resident, Shankar Singh, on January 14.

Twelve of those arrested last week — the 13th arrest was recorded yesterday — are linked to a Pentecostal church in Badwani and claimed that they had not converted but only followed the teachings of Jesus, said police.

All the arrested were booked under the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act and Section 153 (A) of the IPC, said police. Among those were Balu Keshu Saste, a blind man in his 40s, and his wife Bhuri, said police, adding that Saste had earlier been detained for a similar offence in 2010; the trial is on at a court in Kukshi.

“They trick local residents by offering inducements or using force. We had received information that the conversion was on,’’ U C Tiwari, in-charge of Kukshi station, told The Indian Express. Shankar Singh, however, accused the police of acting at the behest of right-wing activists from Nisarpura village, who he alleged led the police to his house when he was serving the visitors lunch. “They stormed my house and misbehaved with women,’’ alleged Singh. 

Badwani-based Anar Singh, who identified himself as an assistant to a pastor, said the activists also raised slogans and damaged two-wheelers before police completed the arrests.

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Thirteen people including a blind couple and their son arrested in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh

Thirteen persons, including a blind couple and their three-year-old
son, were sent to jail in central India for allegedly violating a law
that forbid religious conversion through allurements and force. They were arrested under the MP Freedom of Religion Act and under section 153 A of the IPC.

Seven of the arrested, including the blind couple, were released from jail on Sunday in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, while the other six remain in jail. Their bail hearing is scheduled for today.

According to Pastor Suresh Mandlo, the Christians were arrested on January 14 and sent to jail the next day. They were invited by Shankar Singh, a resident of Dahar village to join a meal on the occasion of Makar Sankranti festival.

A group of men surrounded the house until police came and took the 13 away.

Singh has been quoted by mattersindia.com, “My guests were arrested and sent to jail for alleged conversion activity in my house even without any complaint from me.”

Incidents against the Christian community in October 2015 as reported by Evangelical Fellowship of India

Introductory Note EFI News October 2015

The Evangelical Fellowship of India has recorded at least 23 verified incidents targeting the Christian community in the months of September - October 2015. This includes one person being killed by unidentified people in Jharkhand while other incidents like arrests on cooked up charges and attacks on individual Christians and worship services continued. At least one act of vandalism of a cemetery was reported from Karnataka.

Most of the incidents came from the central Indian states of Madhya Pradesh (11 incidents) and Chhattisgarh (5 incidents). Jharkhand reported two incidents, Delhi, one; Uttar Pradesh, one, Punjab, one; Gujarat, one and Karnataka reported one incident.

Majority of the incidents centered on the tribal belts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand with tribal Christians bearing the brunt of most of the violence.

These incidents of hate crime and violence against the Christian minority are at best a partial indicator of the situation of Christians in the country for many incidents are not even reported. The Evangelical Fellowship of India urges the central government and the respective state governments to look into these incidents and take steps to check the hate and ensure justice and protection for the minority community.

Christian Cemetery Vandalised in Belgaum, Karnataka

September 7, 2015: A cemetery in Belgaum of Karnataka was found vandalized on September 7, 2015 when a group of people went to bury their dead. According to reports in the media, the vandals have uprooted more than a dozen crosses, broke up some gravestones and dig up some graves. The incident happened at Bharatnagar of Shahapur area, which is about 2kms from Belgaum city.

Three Christians including two pastors jailed at Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh

September 8, 2015: Three Christians including two pastors are in jail in Jagdalpur, Bastar district since September 8, 2015. Pastor Loknath Baghel, Pastor Suddu Baghel, and Tikaram Netam of Barpaguda village of Bastar district were arrested after they opposed the takeover of their village land. The land in question has been used as a graveyard in the past and now has been marked by the government authorities that want to develop a pond there. A FIR was filed against the Pastors when the villagers opposed the takeover of land. The sessions court has rejected the bail application for the Pastors twice.

Church members brutally attacked by Hindu extremists at Bastar, Chhattisgarh

September 8, 2015: Christian villagers in Karmari village, district Bastar, Chhattisgarh were brutally attacked by Hindu extremists following the passing of a resolution in the village banning all non-Hindu religious activities. A mob of over 50 Hindu radicals gathered and surrounded a Church building around 4 pm on September 8, 2015. Before any of the Christians could even ask what was happening, the radicals attacked, assaulting Christians with wooden clubs and sticks. When some women from the Church confronted the radicals, they too were brutally beaten with wooden clubs and fists. Two Christian women, Pulo Bhai and Ludri were seriously injured in the assault and lost consciousness. As Christians in Karmari village face a social boycott, life has become very difficult for them.

House Church Service stopped at Palian Kalan, Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh

September 13, 2015: Pastor Durgesh Yadav of Palian Kalan, Lakhimpur Kheri district, Uttar Pradesh was threatened by a mob of around 200-250 people led by local RSS and BJP leaders during Sunday worship service on 13 September 2015 at 11:00 am. The mob wanted him to stop conducting worship in the area. The house Church of about 100 members has stopped worship as of now because of the threats received. Pastor Yadav has filed a complained to the Palia Kalan police station but the police have not yet lodged the FIR against the local leaders.

Pastor and wife detained and interrogated by Police alleging force conversions at Chandia, Umaria, Madhya Pradesh

September 18, 2015: Pastor Gaya Prasad Dharwiya and his wife, from Shahdol district, Madhya Pradesh were apprehended and threatened by a local RSS leader who was accompanied by the police. The Pastor and his wife were returning from a friend's house at Chandia town of Umria District, Madhya Pradesh. The RSS leader and the policemen forcibly took the couple to the Chandia Police Station without assigning any reason and detained them there for more than eleven hours before letting them go late in the night. The Superintendent of Police, Umria District ordered Pastor Dharviya and his wife to be present at the Chandia Police Station next morning at 10:00AM.

Christians Beaten Up, Chased Out from Home in Chhattisgarh

September 22, 2015: In Kongud, Kondagoan, Chhatisgarh, Hindu extremists beat up two Christian siblings after they refused to renounce Christ. The extremists summoned Mankuram Singh and his brother to a Hindu temple and asked them to renounce Christ However, the Christians refused and the mob thereafter started to beat them up, accused them of being involved in forceful conversions and proceeded to vandalize their home. The attackers later locked up their home and chased them out of the village. The brothers submitted a police complaint with the help of area Christian leaders, but the police did not register a case against the attackers and the extremists are threatening to harm them if they do not withdraw their complaint.

Delhi, Pastor threatened to stop Church service

September 27, 2015: September 27, 2015: Pastor Pradeep Kumar in Matiala, Uttam Nagar, New Delhi was manhandled and threatened by some of his neighbors who were led by local Hindu extremists. The attackers wanted to stop the Sunday Church service that was going on.

Three Christians arrested for alleged forced conversions in Satna, Madhya Pradesh 

October 3, 2015: Madhya Pradesh police arrested three evangelists accusing them of proselytizing and forced conversions. The arrest took place at a school located at Majhgawan, a small town in Satna district. The three Stephen Rajkumar, 40; Harilal 20; and Anil Kumar have been charged under the Madhya Pradesh freedom of religion act. The police also confiscated Bibles, books, CDs and projectors that were with them. 

26 Christian Families threatened with boycott and ouster from the village at Betul, Madhya Pradesh 

October 3, 2015: Suraj Sariyam, a Christian from Chattarpur, Ghoda Dongri, Betul district was threatened and harassed by local Hindu leader Kailash Sariyam alias Gabba on October 3, 2015. Gabba not only stopped Suraj from enter his own paddy field but also did not allow him to take water for next two days from the village river. The village has 26 Christian families. On October 5, 2015 the village council summoned all the Christian families for a hearing. Orders were also issued to the villagers to boycott all the Christian families. Villagers were told not to provide basic facilities like water etc. to the Christians. But due to police intervention the hearing could not take place. The Christians in the village are still getting threats from Hindu extremists and are living in danger.

Christian family pressured and threatened for Ghar Wapsi (re-conversion) at Satna, MP

October 5, 2015: A group of 15 Hindu extremists trespassed into the home of a Christian family at Motwa village in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh and threatened them. The extremists were pressurizing the family to do a 'Ghar Wapsi' (homecoming). This family had accepted Christianity 5 years ago. The extremists threatened the family and warned them not to partake in Christian worship service.

Pastor, his pregnant wife, and their 11-month-old baby beaten at Kapurthala, Punjab 

October 8, 2015: Pastor Arvinder Singh and his family were brutally beaten up to the point of  death by a mob that included his neighbours in Phagwara city of Kapurthala district, Punjab. Pastor Arvinder was hit with an iron object on his head, which made him unconscious for a couple of hours. His wife, who was seven months pregnant, was manhandled and struck many times over on her stomach by the mob. The couple's 11-month baby boy was also thrown at pile of bricks, which caused him serious internal injuries. No FIR has been registered till date.

Pastor's mother pelted with stones in Dahod, Gujarat

October 12, 2015: Dasudi Ben Bhuriya (58), mother of Pastor Rajesh Bhuriya was at tacked and pelted with stones by 6-7 Hindu extremists, on October 12, at Bilwani village of Dahod district. She was admitted at the Bilwani hospital as a result of the attack for treatment of her injuries.

Pastor Shot Dead in Jharkhand  

October 13, 2015: Pastor Chamu Hasda Purty of the Pentecostal Church at Sandih, Khunti district was killed as unidentified people opened gunfire at him after entering his house. The murder took place in the late evening of October 13. Pastor Chamu Hasda Purty was well respected and valued by the local community.

Christians summoned at Police station for questioning on false charges of Conversion at Betul, MP 

October 17, 2015: Two Christians, Yuvraj and Kumar Singh were taken to the Bhimpur Police station in Betul district for questioning after local Hindu extremists complained against them alleging religious conversions. Christians have been gathering as a Church conducting regular Sunday worship at Bhimpur village for more than a year now but they are getting regular threats from local Hindu groups to close down the Church and move out of the village.

Christians detained at police station on the complaint of Bajrang Dal and VHP members in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh

October 17, 2015: Members of Bajrang Dal attacked a prayer meeting near Rajnandgaon and beat up the preacher Dev Kumar Sahu on October 17, 2015. The meeting was held at the house of Mr. Lalit Sahu and about 50 Christians were in attendance when more than 20 armed members of the Bajrang Dal trespassed into the private property of Mr. Lalit Sahu and started pushing people and beat up the preacher. The police carried the Christians to the police station for questioning and they were let off later after EFI and other local Christian leaders intervened.

Christian meeting disrupted in Dalli Rajhara, Chhattisgarh

October 21, 2015: A prayer meeting organized at the home of Mrs. Dhaneswari Sahu was disrupted by member of the Dharm Jagran Samiti along with some representatives of the Sahu community who were angry that the family had started organizing Christian prayer meetings at their home since last many months. According to reports when the prayer meeting was going on, members of the Dharm Jagran Samiti and representatives of the Sahu community arrived at the house of Mrs. Dhaneswari Sahu in an inebriated state. They created a ruckus and stopped the prayer meeting. They accused the Christians of conversions and also charged them with scheming alleging that the Christians wanted to demolish the nearby temple. The Christians have not reported the matter to the police.

Christians arrested in Kanhiwada, Madhya Pradesh 

October 25, 2015: A Christian woman and a man were arrested by the police from a private prayer meeting at Bhatekhari village after a local Hindu leader complained against them alleging conversions through allurement. Mrs. Anjana Jharia and Mr. Manish Yadav were speaking at a private prayer meeting organized at the house of a Christian, when the police arrested them on the complaint of one Ashok Baghel. There is no evidence of Mr. Ashok Baghel even being present in the meeting according to local Christians. They were charged with sections 3 and 4 of the MP Freedom of Religion Act and under sections 506 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code. They were later bailed out.

Christians including children arrested in Junardeo, Madhya Pradesh

October 25, 2015: At least 8 Christians plus two children were arrested from Silvada, Junnardeo on cooked up charges of forced conversion and of hurting religious sentiments this included a family from Bhopal who had come down to Junnardeo for their vacations. Pastor A J Thomas, his wife, and two children, John (14) and Kezia (12) were among the people arrested. Pastor Thomas and his wife were later put in a jail in Junnardeo while their children were taken to Chhindwara which is 50 kilometres away. Later the children were separated and while Kezia was sent to Shahdol (421 Kilometres away), John was sent to Narsinghpur (125 Kilometres away), where they await their bail till the writing of this story. Their parents have been bailed out. 

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