Young Mother Is Fifth Christian Killed in India in Two Months

NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – A 26-year-old mother became the fifth Christian in two months to be killed in India last week when she refused to hand over her daughter to be raped by Hindus who had assaulted the girl and other Christian minors, sources said.

Two masked Hindus on July 20 slit the throat of Sunita Devi (name changed for security reasons) in Regadi village, in Jharkhand state’s Khunti District, when she came out her door at 1 a.m. and refused their demand for her young daughter, according to the sources.

“The two suspects had raped Devi’s minor daughter three times in the past besides three other Christian juvenile girls, and all four of the minor girls belong to my church,” pastor Jaymasih Nag of Grace Family Ministry (Anugrah Pariwaar Seva) told Morning Star News.

Devi’s daughter told police the assailants had previously called Devi by phone with demands that she hand over her daughter to be sexually abused, according to a police report. That night her mother had refused to answer her cell phone when the assailants called, according to the daughter.

At about 1 a.m. Devi noticed two men at the window of the room where she had been sleeping with her children and decided to get up and send them away, Pastor Nag said, based on what the minor girl had told him.

“Unaware of their intentions, Devi with the help of her cell phone torch, stepped out of the house to shoo the men away,” he said. “Devi’s daughter followed her mother. Before long, the men attacked Devi and she fell on the ground dead. On seeing her mother fall on the ground, the minor girl quickly ran inside the house and latched the door from inside.”

The girl thought there could be more men at a distance, but because of darkness she could see only two of them with their faces covered, he said. According to police, after the assailants killed Devi, they dragged her body into a nearby jungle, put her corpse into a sack and threw it into a river about two miles away. 

Police found her body at 2 p.m. and sent it for autopsy.

Pastor Nag saw her corpse and said her throat was completely slit.

As her husband works in Odisha state to provide for the family, Devi had lived alone with their two sons and two daughters. She had kept quiet about the torment her family was going through and was dealing with the rapists herself, thinking they would not go to the extent of killing her, Pastor Nag said.

Her husband and the Christian parents of another rape victim went to police only after the killing of Devi, sources said. On the basis of statements from the two girls, officers at the Khunti police station registered a First Information Report and arrested two suspects, station in-charge Jaideep Toppo said.

“At the complaint of the two minor girls, we arrested two suspects, and they have confessed to their crime of raping Devi’s daughter three times and the other girl once,” Toppo told Morning Star News.

Asked if the suspects killed Devi, Toppo said only, “The two men are arrested for rape and not killing.”

Pastor Nag pastors his church in nearby Saridkel. Devi and her family began attending his church six years ago. Hers is one of eight Christian homes in her village of 25 families.

Religious Motive

The two men arrested are Hindus who live in Saridkel village, where Pastor Nag has led regular worship services for the past 12 years, less than a mile from Regadi.

Pastor Nag said that girls from Christian homes are intentionally targeted by Hindus who influence followers of tribal Sarna religion, trying to introduce Hindu gods into their rituals and uniting with them against Christians.

“Why are all their targets Christian girls?” he said. “Though the opposition might not be visible outwardly, there is constant threat to believers in various forms.”

Other area Christian leaders also said the rapes and the killing were clear cases of persecution.

“Christians are soft targets, and the underlying factor of such incidents are always because of their faith,” a Christian leader from Ranchi, Sandeep Oraon, told Morning Star News. “This belt of Jharkhand has been witnessing rising persecution, and it is very real for the Christians who are living it every day.”

Asked if the assaults against four Christian girls and Devi pointed to a targeting of Christians, Station in-charge Toppo told Morning Star News, “You are thinking too much.”

Fear of Reporting Rape

Pastor Nag noted the likelihood that there were more than two rapists.

“We are yet not sure if the rapists are only two – there could be more than two involved in the crime,” he said. “We are not sure if the rapists have targeted just four Christian girls and not more.”

In a culture that shames rape victims and facing threats from the assailants, the victims did not quickly reveal the crimes. After Devi’s husband and the other rape victim’s family took the bold step of approaching police, two more families in his church, residents of Saridkel, informed Pastor Nag that their minor daughters also had been victims of the two men, Pastor Nag told Morning Star News.

“I am shocked that neither Devi nor the other three families ever spoke to me about the traumatic experience they and their children had been going through,” he said. “They fear the adverse consequences their families will have to face for speaking out. Devi probably was afraid to speak out, knowing well the consequences she and her daughter would have to face, and thus she did not approach the police.”

The rapes and killing have terrified Christians in the two villages and surrounding areas, he said.

Christians begin facing opposition from Hindu and Sarna tribal religion villagers from the moment they put their faith in Christ, Nag said. Opposition also drove him from Saridkel for many years, forcing him to settle in a nearby city, he said. Extremists threatened to damage his church building, he said, and only in January did he dare return to his native Saridkel.

Political Pressure

A well-placed source told Morning Star News that there is immense political pressure in this case.

“Initially the police had arrested four suspects, but they let the other two go after some financial ‘give-and-take,’” the source said.

On Saturday (July 25) the arrested men were taken to court to record their statements, and a member of the Legislative Assembly belonging to the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party accompanied them in support, the source said.

Station in-charge Toppo said he was not aware of any confession to homicide.

Though the autopsy was performed the same day the body was discovered, July 20, Toppo said he was still awaiting the autopsy report.

“The weapon used for killing is not clear yet; wounds on the deceased’s neck and back were visible,” he told Morning Star News. “The rest will be clear in the report.”

Pastor Nag said he found police proceedings were “slow” and “ignoring the obvious.”

“Though it is obvious that these men brutally murdered Devi after she refused to give her daughter to them, police are still slow in taking action on the ‘killing’ front,” he told Morning Star News.

Asked about this allegation, Toppo reiterated, “Investigations are underway, and nothing can be said until the investigation is complete.”

Rapes

Devi was laid to rest on her own farmland on Tuesday (July 21). She is survived by her husband and four children, ages 2 to 13.

On June 28 she had sent her daughter to buy some vegetables at a nearby market. The girl went with a neighbor friend, and on their way the two suspects abducted them and took them to a secluded place, where they locked them in a room, sources said.

The two girls were kept in the room, which was locked from outside, with men taking turns to guard it until 9 p.m.

“These men entered the room at 9 in the night and raped both the girls,” Pastor Nag said. “This was the third time that Devi’s daughter was being raped and first time when her friend became their victim.”

The families of the girls searched for them throughout the night. The girls were released the next morning and informed their parents upon reaching their homes.

Devi’s daughter told her the rapists threatened severe harm if they told anybody about the assault, the pastor said.

“It was already traumatizing for Devi and her daughter that just like previous three times, the minor girl could be abducted from anywhere, anytime and dragged to a secluded place to be raped again and again,” Pastor Nag told Morning Star News. “It was since then that Devi started to receive constant phone calls from these men demanding for her daughter to be given to them for their sexual pleasure.”

Informed of the previous rapes, Toppo expressed surprise and told Morning Star News that the complainants had not reported the prior two rapes, and that police would investigate when they do so.

Devi’s husband has taken his four children out of the village, and they are living in an undisclosed location. He has received constant phone calls from the suspects’ friends and supporters pressuring him to withdraw the charges, Pastor Nag said.

“There are threats to his and his children’s lives,” the pastor said.

Including the death under mysterious circumstances of a Christian woman in Chhattisgarh state the last week of May, Devi’s death is the fifth religiously motivated killing of a Christian in India in two months. On July 10 in Maharashtra state, Maoists killed pastor Munshi Devu Tado in Bhatpar village, Gadchiroli District.

In Bari village, Jharkhand state, followers of tribal religion on June 7 abducted and killed Kande Munda. On the night of June 4 in Odisha state, followers of tribal religion abducted 16-year-old Sambaru Madkami for his faith before stabbing and stoning him to death.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on April 28 urged the U.S. State Department to add India as a “Country of Particular Concern” to its list of nations with poor records of protecting religious freedom.

India is ranked 10^th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2020 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. The country was 31st in 2013, but its position has worsened since Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014.

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Fourth Christian in Less than Two Months Killed in India

NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – Maoists in Maharashtra state killed a church pastor on Friday (July 10), the fourth death of a Christian for their faith in India since late May, sources said.

In Bhatpar village, Gadchiroli District in the western peninsular state, pastor Munshi Devu Tado was leading a worship service on his property for about 15 village families from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. when three armed men and three women escorted him away, said his wife, Jaini Munshi Tado.

“They shook hands with him at first, then took him by his hand and, after few steps, they tied his hands at his back with a rope,” she told Morning Star News. 

“I, my father-in-law and brother-in-law followed after them, pleading and enquiring as to why they are taking him. They said they just want to talk to him and that we need not worry, they will send him back in a little while.”

Family members continued to follow until the Maoists forcibly stopped them and pushed them away, throwing them to the ground, Jaini Munshi Tado said.

“Hardly five to seven minutes later, we heard a gunshot,” she said, weeping. “We immediately ran in the direction only to find the body of my husband in the pool of his blood, and the Maoists had gone. I wept bitterly, my husband was gone.”

Pastor Tado was estimated to be in his mid-thirties. He leaves behind four children, ages 6, 5, 4 and 1.

Villagers upset with the growth of the church and the number of converts to Christianity from their native tribal religion incited Maoists to kill the pastor, though the assailants tried to give the impression that they killed him for being an informer, sources said.

The body of pastor Munshi Devu Tado in Gadchiroli District, Maharashtra, India. (Morning Star News)

The Maoists left a note in Pastor Tado’s pocket saying that he earned large amounts of money as a police informer against the militant insurgents, Jaini Munshi Tado said.

When police arrived to investigate, they told Christians that Pastor Tado was not an informer for them, and that they did not even know him, said pastor Vijay Kumar Vachami, a mentor and close associate of Pastor Tado.

Villagers had sent three letters to Maoists at different times spreading false information about Pastor Tado to instigate them against him, Pastor Vachami said.

“The Maoists once sent back a message saying, ‘We do not want to kill Tado, make him understand, and he will understand,’ but the villagers did not stop at that,” Pastor Vachami told Morning Star News. “They pestered the Maoists to the point that they actually executed the horrendous killing.”

The pastor and his family began to suffer persecution after the couple put their faith in Christ seven years ago, he said. A Christian from a nearby village had told them the gospel, and Tado’s family was the first family to convert from their tribal religion in the village of about 100 families, he said.

“They were persecuted in every way,” Pastor Vachami said. “Then one day, their house was attacked and brought down by the villagers. They were told to leave the village or else they would be killed.”

Three years ago, Pastor Tado left his village and made a temporary shelter for his family a mile from the village on his farmland, he said. Pastor Tado began to lead regular worship services at his new place, and people began receiving Christ, said Pastor Vachami, who lives in a neighboring village.

“There were only three Christian families in the past, but this year due to the hard work of Tado, the number of families increased to 18,” he said.

Contributions from church members helped Pastor Tado erect a separate worship place on his farmland, which the Christians inaugurated two weeks ago, he said.

“He was a very simple man and a very faithful servant of God,” Pastor Vachami said. “Please pray for his family that is left behind.”

Former Maoists

Pastor Tado and his wife were once Maoists, Jaini Munshi Tado said.

They joined the Maoist Naxalite movement in 2005, and police arrested them in 2007 from their home in Bhatpur village for participation in the communist insurgency. They were convicted and spent 18 months in prison, she said.

Upon their release, they returned to their village and began to make a living working their farmland. Their former Maoist contacts visited and even encouraged them to continue with the fresh start in their lives, she said.

“Since that day till only now, the Maoists never visited us or troubled us, nor called us back,” Jaini Munshi Tado said.

A First Information Report was registered at the Bhamragarh police station, but the family has not received a copy as investigations continue. Police declined to take calls from Morning Star News.

Pastor Tado’s body was scheduled for autopsy at the government hospital of Bhamragarh on Sunday (July 12).

“We earned our living by serving the Lord and by working in the agriculture fields,” Jaini Munshi Tado said. “Now that my husband is gone, I will ask God for His grace for me to bring up the four children.”

Including the death under mysterious circumstances of a Christian woman in Chhattisgarh state the last week of May, Pastor Tado’s killing would be the fourth religiously motivated slaying of a Christian in less than two months. In Bari village, Jharkhand state, followers of tribal religion on June 7 abducted and killed Kande Munda. On the night of June 4 in Odisha state, followers of tribal religion abducted 16-year-old Sambaru Madkami for his faith before stabbing and stoning him to death.

In the case in Chhattisgarh state, tribal Hindus persecuted a widowed, Christian mother of four before her body was found severely mutilated in the wilderness near her village, sources said. The body of 40-year-old Bajjo Bai Mandavi appeared to have been eaten by wild animals when it was found two miles into the wilderness near her native Kumud village, Kuye Mari, on May 29, but local Christians suspect villagers upset by her conversion killed her. She was last seen going into the wilderness of Kondagaon District to collect firewood on May 25.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on April 28 urged the U.S. State Department to add India as a “Country of Particular Concern” to its list of nations with poor records of protecting religious freedom.

India is ranked 10^th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2020 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. The country was 31st in 2013, but its position has worsened since Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014.

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Christian Mother of Four in India Was Persecuted before Her Death

NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – Tribal Hindus persecuted a widowed, Christian mother of four before her body was found severely mutilated in the wilderness near her village in Chhattisgarh, India, sources said.

The body of 40-year-old Bajjo Bai Mandavi was initially unrecognizable as it appeared to have been eaten by wild animals when it was found two miles into the wilderness near her native Kumud village, Kuye Mari, on May 29. She was last seen going into the wilderness of Kondagaon District to collect firewood on May 25.

The death threats, deprivation of water and shunning she had suffered at the hands of villagers who were upset that she left their blend of Hindu and traditional tribal rituals led family members and area Christian leaders to believe she was raped and killed before animals fed on her body, they said.

“There was no way to find out who the people were who raped my sister-in-law and then murdered her, so police and the authorities thought best to call it an attack by a wild animal,” a sobbing Bhajnath Mandavi, her brother-in-law, told Morning Star News.

Bhajnath Mandavi is the younger brother of Bhola Mandavi, who died of an illness four years ago, leaving Bajjo Bai Mandavi with children who are now 6, 8, 12 and 17.

Villagers had met four times to discuss action against her, area pastor Rupesh Kumar Salam told Morning Star News.

“She was threatened and asked to leave her faith and re-convert, but she boldly took a stand for her faith,” said Pastor Salam, who leads a church of about 120 people in nearby Kue Mari.

Bajjo Bai Mandavi had attended Sunday services there regularly with her children. In Kumud village, hers was one of just two Christian families among 21 other families.

The tribal Hindu families prohibited her from fetching water from the common village tap, forcing her to walk miles for it, Pastor Salam said.

“She bravely fought all the odds and refused to deny her faith even after she started to receive death threats from the Hindu extremist villagers,” Pastor Salam told Morning Star News. “Bajjo Bai became a Christian a little more than three years ago, and since then had faced severe opposition from the villagers.”

She regularly talked about the threats and shunning she and her children faced from the tribal Hindu villagers, he said.

“I always told her that we are praying for her and that everything will be fine – we could never imagine that she would face such brutality,” Pastor Salam said. “She was raped and then murdered by religious extremists for her Christian faith.”

Brother-in-law Mandavi said her own brother, who lives in her village, would not speak with her after she became a Christian three years ago.

“Nobody except one Christian family would speak to Bajjo Bai and her children,” he said.

An influential, tribal Hindu family in the village likely had a hand in the alleged rape and killing, said a source close to her family who requested anonymity.

“The villagers and all of us know who they are, but no action would be taken against them,” the source said. “They have a lot of money to enable them to keep themselves out of any trouble.”

If a homicide, it would be the third religiously motivated killing of a Christian in India within a few weeks. In Bari village, Jharkhand state, followers of tribal religion on June 7 abducted and killed Kande Munda. On the night of June 4 in Odisha state, followers of tribal religion abducted 16-year-old Sambaru Madkami for his faith before stabbing and stoning him to death.

In Uttar Pradesh state on May 28, villagers tried to kill pastor Dinesh Kumar in an ambush that left him unconscious.

Foul Play Dismissed

The remains of the semi-naked body were found in the wilderness by the driver of a passing tractor loaded with road construction material, Pastor Salam said.

The driver notified police, and Christians arrived at the site of the body with officers, he said.

The head of Kumud and four other area mountain villages, Gurcharan Bhandari, denied any foul play.

“She was probably killed by a wild animal,” Bhandari told Morning Star News.

Though he had not seen the police report, he said that it states that she was killed by a wild animal. Family members and church leaders also have not received a copy of the police report.

The village chief said an autopsy took place at the site where the body was discovered. Though neither he, victim family members or church leaders have received a copy of the autopsy report, Bhandari said it indicated that she was mauled to death by a wild animal.

The village chief said it was common for wild animals to attack humans in the wilderness but admitted that no such attack had ever taken place in the area where she was collecting firewood. He said the last attack took place three years ago in a far different part of the wilderness.

Bhandari said he suspects a bear might have killed her but could not explain why only her legs appeared to have been eaten.

Siya Yadav, who pastors a church in Keshkal 18 miles from Kumud, said he saw the body while driving his car after road construction forced him to a detour through the wilderness on May 28, but that he did not stop to look closer.

He visited the site later and said a wild animal possibly fed on the body after it lay in the wilderness for days.

“We could see that she died at one spot where the bundle of the sticks lay – there were evident marks that she was dragged by a wild animal to another spot and from there to the third spot,” Pastor Yadav told Morning Star News.

Search for Justice

Brother-in-law Bhajnath Mandavi said he is caring for the deceased’s two younger children. The 12-year-old child has been living with another relative 30 miles away for the past year, he said.

“I am still in shock. I do not know what the future of her four children will be,” said Mandavi, who was unable to attend his sister-in-law’s funeral due to coronavirus travel restrictions.

The oldest son, a contract laborer in Tamil Nadu state, was also forced to miss the funeral due to travel restrictions, he said.

“The eldest son could not come home even at his mother’s death,” Mandavi said.

Bajjo Bai Mandavi had supported her family as a daily-wage laborer. A senior pastor and Christian leader in the area said converts to Christianity in India’s rural areas increasingly face the threats and shunning she suffered.

“Social boycott is very real,” Pastor Son Singh told Morning Star News. “It is practiced even against high-ranking government officials when they accept Christ, so what can we say about this woman who was just a poor person and also a widow?”

Chhattisgarh Christian Forum President Arun Pannalal said Bajjo Bai Mandavi’s death exemplifies violence against Christians that is routinely dismissed.

“This is a crime against a minority community, and the authorities are not doing anything about it,” Pannalal told Morning Star News. “The Chhattisgarh Christian Forum will move to the High Court if this matter is not taken seriously.”

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on April 28 urged the U.S. State Department to add India as a “Country of Particular Concern” to its list of nations with poor records of protecting religious freedom.

India is ranked 10th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2020 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. The country was 31st in 2013, but its position has worsened since Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014.

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Christian Father of Two Killed in Jharkhand State, India

HYDERABAD, India (Morning Star News) – When Kande Munda heard a knock on his door one night last month, the Christian father of two knew it was likely the same thugs and their colleagues in his area of Jharkhand, India who had harassed him for nearly four years.

They were particularly upset that Munda had reported them to police for a 2018 assault on his mother-in-law. The assailants, followers of tribal Adivasi religion, had opposed her conversion to Christianity by labelling her Christian prayers as “witchcraft” and gang-raping her.

Munda and his family were already in bed after a hard day of work on the night of June 7 when they heard the knock on the door. Munda told his wife not to answer it.

“He was suspicious that they must have come for him,” his wife, Bindi Munda, told Morning Star News.

Three men forced the door open and entered, while four or five remained outside, she said. Darkness obscured their faces.

“One of them pointed a gun at my husband and told the other two men that they should first rape me and then kill my husband,” Munda said.

Their children, ages 1 and 3, were asleep. The armed assailants seized her husband by the neck as he knelt and pleaded with them not to kill him, she said.

“I have done nothing wrong – please don’t kill me,” he cried repeatedly, according to his wife, who picked up their children, holding one in each arm, and fled into the wilderness. She hid there briefly before running into the village screaming for someone to save her husband.

“But by the time I had returned to our shanty with some neighbors, he was not there,” she said. “I went about half a mile on foot to a believer’s home to get their help to search for my husband.”

That night Kande Munda’s youngest brother, returning to Bari village on a motorbike, found his corpse in a pool of blood under a tree by the side of the road to Latardih village. The mutilated body was barely recognizable.

“He suspected that the body was that of his brother,” the wife of the deceased told Morning Star News. “He rushed to our shanty looking for us, and as he could not find us there, he called on my husband’s phone. I picked up the phone, and he told me that there was a corpse lying by the road, and it looked like that of my husband.”

Kande Munda, also known as Philip Munda, was 27.

It was the second killing of a Christian for his faith in India last month. On the night of June 4 in Odisha state, followers of tribal religion abducted 16-year-old Sambaru Madkami for his faith before stabbing and stoning him to death. In Uttar Pradesh state on May 28, villagers tried to kill pastor Dinesh Kumar in an ambush that left him unconscious.

Mixed Motives

Munda and his family previously practiced their traditional, animistic religion as tribal Adivasis. After he put his faith in Christ in 2017, his wife soon converted, and when her mother came for an extended visit in 2018, she too received Christ, Bindi Munda said.

After Adivasi villagers abducted her mother from their home, took her into the woods and gang-raped her, Kande Munda filed a police complaint, she said.

“The police investigated the matter and arrested some of the accused,” she said. “Since then, opposition against my husband and our Christian faith increased.”

Sanjay Sandil, a member of Siyon Church in the area, said the primary suspect remained at large. After police arrested some suspects, he said, one of Munda’s cousins continually harassed Munda with the help of some militant Maoist colleagues, pressuring him to withdraw the charges.

The cousin and Maoists issued an ultimatum about three months ago that Munda should drop the case or “face consequences,” Sandil said.

“Every time he would inform us about the harassment, we supported him as a church and stood by him,” Sandil told Morning Star News. “We always reached Bari village in the next couple of hours and ensured that the Maoist group did not lay hands on him or sister Bindi Munda.”

In May eight men surrounded their home, and Sandil and other Christians arrived to stand with the family, he said. Police also arrived and gave assurances that they would not let any of the accused go free, Sandil said.

The day of the attack (June 7), police had received word that the primary suspect was in Bari village and were searching for him, he said.

“They could not catch him, but in the night at around 8 p.m., the men unleashed the attack by forcefully entering his house,” Sandil said. “It is more likely that the same persons who gheraoed the house in May must have showed up at their shanty that night. Brother Philip Munda was brutally hacked to death with machetes. The marks can be seen clearly on the back of his body.”

Noble Soul

On June 8, officers at the Saiko police station registered cases against the eight men under sections for kidnapping or abducting to murder (Section 364) and murder (Section 302) of the Indian Penal Code.

“The persons who abducted and murdered Kande Munda have absconded from the crime scene soon after they committed his murder,” Superintendent of Police Ashutosh Shekhar told Morning Star News. “The investigation and search for the accused are still underway. We have been able to list the names of suspects, and a few other names also had surfaced during the investigation. All the accused persons would be arrested very soon.”

Sandeep Oraon, Jharkhand legal aid coordinator for advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom India, visited Munda’s family at their new location on June 24. He assured them of legal assistance in the matter and prayed with them.

Sandil recalled Munda as a noble soul – a selfless, skilled construction and field worker who would agree to work for half the normal wage for people who could not afford to pay more.

“He was providing for his family by working very hard,” Sandil said. “Now the small children do not have a father to provide and raise them.”

Bindi Munda has relocated with her children to another village, as the killers could come after her since she witnessed the abduction of her husband, he said.

“After Brother Philip Munda’s funeral service, the church members spent some time with sister Bindi, counselling her and telling her to remain strong in faith,” Sandil said. “She shared that her husband told her that he could be killed and asked her to bring up their children in a godly manner.”

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on April 28 urged the U.S. State Department to add India as a “Country of Particular Concern” to its list of nations with poor records of protecting religious freedom.

India is ranked 10th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2020 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. The country was 31st in 2013, but its position has worsened since Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014.

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Christian Man Brutally Murdered for His Faith by Radicals in India

According to Christian News, a 27-year-old Christian, named Kande Mudu, was attacked and murdered by a group of armed men in the Khunti district of India’s Jharkhand state.

The murder occurred the night of June 7, when a group of armed men showed up at Kande Mudu’s house and demanded he come outside. The radicals broke down the door and took Mudu out of his home by force. The radicals then brutally attacked Mudu and slashed his throat.

Bindu Mudu, Mudu’s wife, told Christian Solidarity Worldwide, “After hearing the men at the front door, my husband knew that our lives were in danger and that the men had bad intentions.” Mudu then reportedly told his wife, “He might be killed but assured her to remain strong and never to give up her faith in Jesus even if they killed him.”

According to reports, Mudu became a Christian four years ago along with his family. They were the only Christians in their village. Prior to the June 7 murder, Mudu and his family faced constant harassment because of their faith. Now Mudu’s family, including his wife and daughters, have been forced to abandon the village.

Following Mudu’s murder, Bindu said that her father suggested she abandon her Christian faith and avoid being targeted by local radical groups. However, Bindu said, “I will live for Jesus and die for Jesus, but I will never turn back.”

A First Information Report (FIR), a document required to begin a criminal investigation, has been registered in regards to the murder of Kande Mudu. To date, no suspects have been arrested and Mudu’s family remain displaced in undisclosed location.

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Christian persecution in India surges in first half of 2016; radical Hindus see threat to culture, identity

Hindu radicals are intensifying their persecution of Christians across India with no end in sight.

In the first half of 2016 alone, the authorities recorded at least 134 incidents of violence against Christians in India compared with 147 incidents in all of 2014 and 177 in 2015, according to the Evangelical Fellowship of India's Religious Liberty Commission, citing an independent report.

What's even more alarming, according to the Commission, is that the cases recorded from Jan. 1 to June 30 this year were "just a fraction of the violence on the ground," the Gospel Herald reports.

The persecution is widespread with the cases of violence against Christians reported in 21 of India's 29 states. Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 25 cases.

The report attributed the rise in Christian persecution cases to the success achieved by Hindu radical groups in associating local cultural and customs legislation with Hindu religious practices, denouncing everything non-Hindu as a threat to their culture and identity.

In one area, "religious fanatics attacked a church and tried to set a pastor and his pregnant wife on fire after thrashing them," the report states.

"The pastor and his wife managed to escape after they were beaten up and doused with petrol. The attackers destroyed the electronic equipment at the church, besides thrashing the pastor's children and setting ablaze scriptures and furniture."

The frequent crimes committed against Christians by Hindu fanatics include physical violence, arrests on false allegations, stopping church services, attacks on churches, vandalising and threats on churches and pastors. One person was reported to have been murdered because of his faith.

Some of the attacks were brutal. Hindu radicals attacked a pastor in Tamil Nadu during a worship service on Jan. 17, piercing his head with a heavy, sharp object. Fortunately, the pastor survived the attack.

In many of the incidents, the Hindu fanatics accused Christians of conversion by force in violation of the so-called Freedom of Religion Acts, a law that radical Hindu groups often use to falsely implicate Christians.

In one such incident, a Christian named Balu Sastya and his wife Bhuri, who were both blind, were called to pray for a sick person. When they had gathered at the house of the sick person along with 11 companions, a Hindu mob armed with sticks and stones surrounded the house.

They threatened to kill Sastya and his companions. When police arrived, the extremists filed a complaint against him and others, accusing them of attempting to convert gullible villagers by promising them physical healing. The blind couple and their 3-year-old son had to spend two days and three nights in jail before they were released on bail.

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Pastor Murdered in Andhra Pradesh

Pastor Yohan Maria murdered in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. More details awaited. 

Pentecostal pastor shot dead in eastern India

A Christian minister was shot dead in eastern India, an act a church leader said points to a trend of terrorizing Christians in the tribal-dominated Jharkhand state.

Chamu Hasda Purty, 54, of the Independent Pentecostal Church, was shot dead Oct. 12 in Sandhi village of the state's Khunti district. Police officials said they are unsure of the motives for the murder and that the attackers are on the run.

Nuas Mundu, a close family friend, told ucanews.com that a group of armed men barged into the minister's house and one of them shot him.

Mundu, also a minister with the same church, said the incident has created panic among the area's Christians.

Christian leaders have reported several cases of attacks against Christians after pro-Hindu groups gained political importance in the country.

Jharkhand state, as well as the federal government, is currently ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is considered the political arm of Hindu nationalist groups.

The motive "is to terrorize Christians" said Subhash Kongari, a lawyer and district president of Rashtriya Isai Mahasangh, the national Christian forum.

He told ucanews.com that the area is impoverished and mostly indigenous people and the poor have benefited from the church's charitable works. This has antagonized Hindu groups.

The murder should not be seen as an isolated criminal action. "Every year we witness an average of two murders in the area and several other forms of violence," Kongari said. "They are all part of an agenda to terrorize people (so that they) disassociate with Christianity."

He noted that for centuries, indigenous people "have lived in servitude (and were) subjugated and lived cut away from mainstream of life."

Hindu leaders have often warned that Christian missionaries would be dealt with drastically if they do not desist from "forcible conversion" of indigenous people and poor people.

Jharkhand, created in 2000 from tribal-dominated areas of Bihar state, is home to a vibrant, mostly tribal Christian community.

Hindu groups have also accused Christians of luring poor villagers to Christianity with material offers and have reiterated the party's demand for laws to check conversions to Christianity.

Media have reported several instances of churches being destroyed and of Hindu groups beating Christians and threatening to kill them if they do not renounce Christ.

Jharkhand, with a population of 33 million people, now has some 1.4 million Christians, most of whom are indigenous people or those belonging to the dalit or former untouchable castes.

The state's 4.5 percent Christian population is almost double that of the national average.

UCA News

Christian couple hacked to death in Bengal's Kalimpong

Siliguri: A Christian couple was hacked to death and their 12-year-old daughter's eye gouged out by masked assailants in Kalimpong sub division of West Bengal's Darjeeling district, police said Thursday.The incident at the Geetdubling slum in remote Budhwar area, about two hours drive from Kalimpong town, Tuesday-Wednesday midnight, has left the young girl fighting in a serious condition first at Kalimpong Hospital, and now at north Bengal Medical College and Hospital. Her left eye has been severely affected after being slashed with a sharp weapon.

The couple's four-year-old younger daughter escaped the assailants by fleeing from home.

One person has been detained in connection with the incident, said Darjeeling's Superintendent of Police Akhilesh Chaturvedi

Kalimpong Additional Superintendent of Police Anjali Singh said the husband Dominik Bhutia worked with a cable operator.

Locals saw the victims lying in a pool of blood in their house Thursday morning and informed police. The bodies have been sent for post mortem.

Chaturvedi said the Tibetan couple had converted to Christianity. He hoped the case would be solved soon.

Himalayan Buddhist Association general secretary and Tibetan Support Group's north east India core committee convenor Sonam Londrup Lama has condemned the incident and demaned exemplary punishment of the culprits.

Various other organisations in Kalimpong have also raised their voice against the attack.

IANS

 

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Radical Hindus target Christian communities: murder and torture

Mumbai (AsiaNews) - "We killed your father because he refused to deny Jesus Christ." This is what one of the sons of Nimmaka Laxmaya was told by his father's killers, when he found the man's lifeless body near a village in Orissa. In fact, the group of Hindu radicals killed him by "mistake". The goal was just his young son, "guilty" of having received baptism. The incident occurred on May 25 last, but news of the murder only filtered through today. It was confirmed to AsiaNews by the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), which expresses "outrage for what happened" and demands justice for the "increasingly vulnerable" Christian minority.

On the morning of May 25 in the village of Dherubada, inhabited by tribal Kondho, Rev. Ben Christom officiated at a christening ceremony for 29 people, including the youngest son of Nimmaka. At the end of a meal consumed with the community, the man - 50 years - walked towards his home alone, carrying the clothes worn by his son during the ceremony. Along the way a group of fanatical Hindus attacked him, mistaking him for one of the newly baptized.
It later emerged that they had been ordered to find and kill the Christian, because he had just received baptism. Faced with the father's refusal to deny Jesus Christ, the mob bound him by the neck, dragging him like an animal. The split his head with a stone, to kill him, then dumped his body into a wooded area near the road.

Only moments later, the son discovered the tragedy: he was returning home and noticed fresh blood on the ground.  He followed the trail and found the assassins still close to his father's body. "If you come any nearer- they told him - we will kill you too". The terrified young man ran for help.  On returning with the Pastor and others, the mob had fled.
The community denounced the murder to the police who arrested the culprits. Since then, however, things have gotten worse: the supporters of the group continue to threaten Rev. Christom and Christians in the area with a similar fate if they still refuse to deny Christ.

A similar case occurred in another Indian state, Bihar, also on 25 May. In the village of Kaliyaganj a group of extremists brutally attacked a Christian family, "guilty" of having received the visit of Rev. P.G. Vergis, founder of a Protestant church in the area. The attackers did not spare anyone, after beating up the head of the family, Sadanandan Singh, they also violently attack his daughters and younger children. (NC)

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Dr. Jaishankar found dead near Jeypore, Orissa

Dr. Jaishankar from Blessing Youth Mission who went missing last Thursday i.e. 11th July was found dead in a river near Jeypore, Orissa today. He went missing nearly 40 - 50 kilometers from Jeypore while he was on his way to Lamtaput. His motorcycle was found earlier and a search operation was launched and today the worst fears were confirmed. 

Dr. Jaishankar, who lived in Bhopal, was visiting Orissa in connection with social service work which he does with Blessing Youth Mission. In his mid forties, he is survived by his wife and two young children. 

Please join us in praying for them and the mission. 

Tripura: Christian man beheaded for not converting to Hinduism

A 35-year-old Christian man was beheaded for refusing to convert to Hinduism. Indian media that covered the affair revealed that the man, Tapas Bin, was killed by his own father-in-law in the village of Teliamura (West Tripura District), in the north-eastern part of the country, where the victim's body was found a few days ago in a stream.

According to police, three years ago Bin married Jentuly, the daughter of 55-year-old Gobinda Jamatiya, the member of a local tribal religion. The Christian man had been a private tutor of Gobinda's daughter, and the couple had a one-year-old son.

Since the marriage, Gobinda had been pressuring Bin to abandon Christianity and join his tribal religion. When Bin persistently refused, Gobinda decided to kill his son-in-law with the help of an ojha (shaman), Krishnapada Jamatiya (no relation), and dispose of the body.

Police arrested the 42-year-old shaman but were unable to find Gobinda, who works at the West Tripura Science and Technology Department, and is thought to be on the run.

Khrishnapada confessed to the crime, providing detailed information about the killing. For example, he said that before the assassination, Gobinda and he had performed a puja, a ritual prayer.

Bin's wife Jentuly told police that her father did not recognise their marriage and had pressured Bin to convert. What is more, "My father might kill me and my son too," she said.

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Rector murder: Christian community seeks answers

BANGALORE: It has been 23 days since the murder of Father KJ Thomas, rector of St Peter's pontifical seminary. With no word from the city police on who perpetrated the killing, a prayer meeting was held by the Christian voice forum at the St Francis Xavier Cathedral ground here on Tuesday, to appeal for speedy investigation by the city crime branch.

The meeting was solely held to "assert more pressure on the Bangalore police authorities to take action as soon as possible," stated Amith Nigli, forum member.

"It is very shocking that someone could enter a religious place and commit such a heinous crime on a priest," said Father Bernard Moraes, Archbishop of the Church of Karnataka, "The culprit must be found at the earliest, or it is going to give rise to many rumours and suspicions which we do not need right now."

Father Ronnie Prabhu said: "It isn't right to blame them (police) completely. Everything takes its own time, but we do need immediate answers and that's our only request to the authorities."

President of Karnataka region catholic bishops' conference (KRCBC), Father Archibald Gonsalves asked the crowd to fight for justice constantly. "Why is it taking as long as 23 days for them to catch the culprits?" he asked. "It was not just death that took him away, it was a murder and we need our answers."

A memorandum was issued by the KRCBC to be presented to the state governor seeking speedy investigation.

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Christian Priest Beaten and Murdered

Police in India are still searching for the murder suspects after the priest and rector of a major Catholic seminary was found beaten to death on Thursday.

Priest and rector K.J. Thomas was found dead in Bangalore’s main Catholic seminary.

K.J. Thomas, age 64, was discovered by another priest lying in a pool of blood in the corridor near his room at Bangalore’s ‘St. Peter’s Pontifical Seminary’ early Monday, April 1, police and Christians said.

Archbishop Moras explained: “Early today I received the shocking and the sad news of the most brutal murder of Fr K J Thomas, Rector of St Peter’s Pontifical Seminary, Bangalore in the early hours of 1 April. I immediately rushed to the Seminary to initiate the Investigation. The top police officials came to the spot and are investigating this murder case. This is a most heinous crime… Please pray for the repose of his soul, and consolation and strength to the bereaved family members to accept this irreparable loss.”

The motivation for the murder is still unclear, although at least three individuals appear to have been involved. The students were all away on holiday at the time. Fr Thomas’ room was ransacked but, as far as they could judge, the police found the priest’s valuables intact.

Fr Patrick Xavier, the seminary Procurator, discovered the body and raised the alarm. Preliminary investigations suggest that the 65 year-old Rector died as a result of “severe head injuries.”

Fr Thomas, a native of Kerala, had taught Systematic Theology in the seminary for more than 30 years and, at his death, was serving his second term as Rector.




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