INDIA

Total population: 1.32 billion

Religions: Hindus, 72.5%; Muslims, 14.4%; Christians, 4.7%; Traditional, 3.9%; Sikh, 1.8%;
Agnostic, 1.2; Other, 1.5%
Christian population: 62.84 million1

Since the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in the April-May 2014
general election, Christians have faced a rising wave of violence. According to the report
Indian Christian Persecution 2016, 365 anti-Christian incidents occurred over the course of
the year, which included 10 people being killed and more than 500 members of the clergy or
senior community members being attacked for their faith. The report by the Catholic Secular
Forum also claimed that 394 Christians were detained or arrested, 145 were beaten,
assaulted or manhandled, and 34 Christian women (including nuns) were raped or
otherwise assaulted.2 Chhattisgarh State in central India, which was the scene of the worst
persecution, has been ruled by the BJP since 2003.3

Reports indicate that attacks against Christians have drastically increased since the March
2017 elections, which saw a landslide victory for the BJP – with the sharpest rises in
incidents occurring in Uttar Pradesh and Telangana State.4 From January to May 2017 Open
Doors reported a total of 316 incidents5 – almost as many as were recorded for the whole of
2016. Discrimination against Christians also increased throughout the period under
consideration, with Hindu militants ensuring that Christians in several villages were denied
access to rice, wheat, sugar and other food offered at subsidised rates under the 2013
National Food Security Act.6

Evidence of increased persecution of Christians since Narendra Modi became India’s Prime
Minister in May 2014 is noteworthy, especially given the religious-freedom rhetoric which
has frequently characterised a number of his speeches, particularly abroad. On 8 th June
2016, on his fourth visit to the United States, Mr Modi told a special joint session of Congress
that religious liberty was central to India’s constitution. He said: “For my government, the
constitution is a real holy book. And in that holy book, freedom of faith, speech and franchise
and equality of citizens, regardless of background, are enshrined as fundamental rights.”7

To a large extent, the cause of the growing persecution against Christians is the spread of
Hindutva philosophy within society. Hindutva is a right-wing form of Hindu nationalism,
which in essence regards India as a Hindu country which should not tolerate other religions
or cultures. The ruling BJP strongly subscribes to this ideological approach and its political
success is facilitating right-wing rhetoric. In February 2017 Mohan Bhagwat, head of the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of which the BJP is the political arm, said: “India is a
country only for Hindus.” However, this assertion was more nuanced than it might at first
appear, as he asserted: “Every person living in India is Hindu, including Muslims, who are
Hindus by nationality but Islamic by faith.”8

1
Brian J. Grim, Todd M. Johnson, Vegard Skirbekk and Gina A. Zurlo (ed.s), Yearbook of International Religious Demography 2017 (Leiden: Brill,
2017).
2
Vice News, 17/03/16 <https://news.vice.com/article/christian-and-muslims-are-facing-more-and-more-persecution-by-hindu-extremists-in-india>
3 [Malaysia Catholic] Herald, 27/01/17 <www.heraldmalaysia.com/news/little-hope-for-justice-for-indias-persecuted-christians/34447/1>;
4
Release International News, 27/04/17 <http://www.releaseinternational.org/alarming-rise-in-attacks-as-hindu-nationalists-tighten-grip/>
5 Open Doors (USA), 19/05/17 <hwww.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/pray/persecution-india-soars-ever-higher/>
6
Morning Star News, 29/06/16 <http://morningstarnews.org/2016/06/police-in-india-threaten-to-fine-christians-attacked-by-hindu-extremists/>
7
Indian Express, 10/06/16 <http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/prime-minister-narendra-modi-us-congress-speech-2842046>
8 Asia News, 10/02/17 <http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Ultranationalist-chief:-Everyone-is-Hindu-in-India,-even-Muslims-39902.html>
The release in August 2015 of census data shows that for the first time since independence
in 1947, Hindus dropped below 80 percent of the population. This data has stoked Hindutva
fears that forced conversions are changing the face of India.9 Seven of India’s 29 states have
adopted anti-conversion laws. In each case, anti-conversion laws, which punish conversions
obtained by “force” or “fraudulent means”, are based on the notion of protecting “public
order”, an area under state jurisdiction.10 Hindutva groups have held Ghar Wapsi (“home
coming”) ceremonies. Reports suggest that (ironically, given their rhetoric against forced
conversion) many of these events have involved the forcible re-conversion of Christians to
Hinduism. According to Open Doors, “[Christian converts] are constantly under pressure
to return to their old beliefs, and are often physically assaulted, sometimes killed.” 11 Indeed,
the concern over the forced conversion of Hindus has led to further verbal attacks on Mother
Teresa.12 In June 2016 BJP politician Yogi Adityanath said that Mother Teresa was “part of
a plot to convert India to Christianity”.13 Church leaders have repeatedly asserted that in the
matter of conversions their record is beyond reproach. Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal
stated that allegations of improper proselytism activities levelled against the Church were
designed to sow division between faith communities, adding: “I want to ask all those who
accuse us of converting gullible people to Christianity: ‘Where are those whom we
converted?’”14

The spectre of the Kandhamal attacks of Christmas 2007 and August 2008 still haunt the
Christian community. Describing the extent of the anti-Christian violence, human-rights
activist John Rebeka said: “Violence in Kandhamal severely affected women and children,
obstructing the path of education. 600 villages were destroyed, 5,600 houses were looted,
295 churches and other places of worship, 13 schools, and homes for leprosy patients were
destroyed. About 56,000 Christians of Kandhamal became homeless. The faithful were told
that the condition in order to stay in that district was to become Hindus. This is the reality
of the tragedy of Kandhamal.”15 There were positive developments over the period in
question, when India’s Supreme Court ruled that the €273,000 allocated for reconstruction
by the regional government of Kandhamal in 2011 is inadequate and ordered the state
authorities to pay an additional sum of money.16 The Roman Catholic Church has taken
steps to canonise those killed during the anti-Christian pogroms in the state. Archbishop
John Barwa of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar has assembled a group of experts to gather
information about the martyrs. He said: “Our men, women and children, who became
martyrs because of their faith, are not forgotten… Even if they were killed in a horrible way,
their death has brought a new life and a new faith.” He added: “The official launch of the
process is ‘a big thing’ for Christians in India, especially for the challenges that the minority
faces every day. It will serve to strengthen and revitalise the Christian community, affected
by the attacks of 2008.”17

Selected incidents

9
Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, Government of India, 2011, <www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-01.html> ; First Post
India, 27/08/15 <www.firstpost.com/politics/religion-in-numbers-what-the-2011-census-revealed-about-trends-across-indiascommunities-
2408740.html>
10
Eglises d’Asie, 17/04/14 <http://eglasie.mepasie.org/asie-du-sud/inde/2014-04-17-pour-approfondir-la-liberte-religieuse-en-inde>
11
Open Doors (USA), 2017, <www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/world-watch-list/india/>
12
Times of India, 24/02/15 <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Conversion-was-Mother-Teresas-real-aim-RSS-chief-Mohan-
Bhagwatsays/articleshow/46348555.cms>
13
Asia News, 21/06/16 <http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Card.-Toppo:-No-to-the-law-which-deprives-tribal-lands-40113.html>
14
UCAN, 26/08/15, <http://www.ucanews.com/news/new-data-disproves-conversion-allegations-indian-christians/74150>
15
Agenzia Fides, 06/04/17 <http://www.fides.org/en/news/62077ASIA_INDIA_Justice_denied_to_the_Christian_victims_in_Orissa#.WYA-
Q7pFzcs>
16
Asia News, 08/03/16 <http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Supreme-Court:-More-compensation-to-Christian-victims-of-Kandhamal-38217.html>
17
Asia News, 01/07/16 <http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Orissa,-process-opens-for-canonization-Kandhamal-martyrs--36330.html>
October 2015: Chhattisgarh State’s high court ruled that local legislation restricting non-
Hindu religious groups infringed religious freedom. Chhattisgarh Christian Forum
petitioned the court to strike down a resolution passed by the village assembly of Belar in
July 2014 banning all non-Hindu religious activities. Following the move in Belar, in the
south-eastern Bastar District, 54 villages passed similar measures. Chhattisgarh Christian
Forum secretary Arun Pannalal told World Watch Monitor that in these villages Christians
are not allowed to build, are denied access to subsidised food supplies, banned from drawing
drinking water from public wells, and that Hindu employers have been asked not to give jobs
to Christians. The 9th October ruling read: “[t]he impugned resolution shall not come in the
exercise of fundamental right to preach and propagate religion and their faith.”18

December 2015: A court acquitted eight Christians arrested in 2007 on charges of forcibly
converting Hindus. The eight men were arrested in September 2007 after carrying out door-
to-door evangelisation in the village of Balya. The court in Puttur, Karnataka declared:
“Conversion is a right established by the Constitution.”19

February 2016: Seventy-six Christians were forcibly reconverted to Hinduism in Odisha,

local sources told World Watch Monitor. They came from 21 poor tribal families. Vishwa
Hindu Parishad (Hindu World Council)’s international working president, Praveen Togadia,
claimed the organisation had reconverted more than 500,000 Christians and 250,000
Muslims in the past decade through its Ghar Wapsi (“home coming”) initiative.20

March 2016: Around 20 Hindutva radicals wearing saffron-coloured head gear broke into
the the village of Kachna’s Pentecostal church shouting “Jai Shri Ram” (“Victory to the god
Ram”). They beat the 65 Christians, including women, attending the service on Sunday 6 th
in Raipur, Chhattisgarh State. Local superintendent Neeraj Chandrakar told AsiaNews: “The
extremists have damaged chairs, fans and other items on the premises. They then beat the
faithful gathered for prayer”. He added: “The attackers snatched the women's garments.
They even threw a child to the ground.” Police arrested seven people involved in the assault.21

May 2016: Twenty-five Christians from Dalit (lower caste) backgrounds were summoned
to a public meeting where they were pressured to convert by more than 100 Hindus. When
the Christians from Hunter village, in Jharkhand State’s Palamu District, arrived at the
meeting on May 8th , they were bundled into vehicles and taken to a school on the village’s
outskirts. Pastor Sanjay Kumar Ravi reported: “About 100 people from three neighbouring
villages were waiting when we reached the place and started to tell us that it is wrong for us
to pray to Jesus and that we should follow Hinduism and perform puja [Hindu rituals] to
the idols only.” In response, Pastor Ravi gave an account of how he converted to Christianity
following healing from an illness in 2007. This enraged the crowd which tied up six of the
Christians – including the minister – and beat them with sticks and threatened to kill them
if they did not return to Hindu worship. Warned that their houses would be torched if they
did not leave, the Christians went to nearby Ramgarh village. They reported the attack to the
police there, but officers declined to register a case, and summoned their attackers to the
station. After a meeting between 50 Hindu militants and the three Christian leaders, police
forced the Christians to sign a bond stating they would be subject to penalties, including
fines of 10,000 rupees (US$150), if they broke the agreement only to worship in their
homes.22

18
World Watch Monitor, 21/10/15 <https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/2015/10/indian-court-provides-minor-relief-from-ban-on-christianity/>
19
Asia News, 12/16/15
20
World Watch Monitor, 11/02/16 <https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/coe/76-christians-reconverted-to-hinduism-in-india/>
21
Asia News, 03/07/16
22
Morning Star News, 29/06/16 <http://morningstarnews.org/2016/06/police-in-india-threaten-to-fine-christians-attacked-by-hindu-extremists/>
May 2016: A Lutheran minister was found dead with his throat cut and several wounds to
his body in Odisha State. Rev Abraham Biswas Surin of Gossner Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Khunti, Jharkhand State was supposed to be taking part in a meeting in Ranchi,
also in Jharkhand, but his body was discovered under a bridge in Rourkela, in neighbouring
Odisha. The murder weapon, an axe, was found near the body. Sajan K George, president of
the Global Council of Indian Christians, told AsiaNews: “The murder of Rev A B Surin is a
mystery. He was found with his throat slashed, [and] his body showing injuries to the head
and stomach. The GCIC will pray for the pastor’s soul and asks God to bring consolation to
the widow and family.”23

July 2016: Three Christian men were hospitalised because of their injuries after a mob
attack on a family home. More than 50 people attacked student Umesh Patel, his father
Sudhama Patel and family friend Kiran Vishwakarma at the Patels’ house in Kamarud
village, in Chhattisgarh’s Damtari district. The attack, which occurred on Sunday 17th, came
after the student was questioned about his Christian faith by a group of Hindus. 24

July 2016: A Christian schoolgirl was gang raped and killed following her family’s refusal
to renounce their faith. The 14-year old’s body was found in the forest in Kondagaon district,
Chhattisgarh State, on Friday 22nd. Inspector Chanrakar Hublal of Bayanar police station
said: “It is, however, true that she was partially clad and some suspicious materials were
seized from the spot where her body was found.” The family’s minister, Pastor A K Netam
said: “When the family refused to give up their faith in Christ the villagers boycotted them,
but the family did not give in.” He added: “In the past three years, the pressure on the family
was so much to quit Christianity, but they were adamant to continue in their faith,” he says,
adding: “The killing could be part a revengeful act.”25

August 2016: Sharon Fellowship Town Church, Kodungallur, in Kerala’s Thrissur District
was attacked on Saturday 20th. It was thought that the violence was carried out by by
members of the Hindu ultra-nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh paramilitary group.
Sharon Fellowship’s leader, Rev Roy Shepherd said that over the last five years, extremists
have shown increasing unhappiness with the Fellowship’s presence.26

October 2016: Hindu militants in Maharashtra State severely beat Pastor Prashant
Bhatnager, 45, before dowsing him with petrol in an attempt to burn him to death. The event
occurred after the minister and four other members of the House of God Church were
distributing tracts and offering healing prayers in Taloja, Raigad District. Disgruntled locals
questioned the Christians, before confiscating their tracts and taking them to a hall at
around 6.30pm. They had been held for two hours when 30 Hindu militants showed up.
They released the other Christians, but bundled the pastor into a car before driving to an
isolated areas. Another 20 followed on motorbikes. There they beat him with an iron rod.
He fell unconscious after being dowsed with petrol. Believing him to be dead, they moved
his body to the car and dumped him near his village. A passer-by found him, and took him
to Kharghar Medicity Hospital. The pastor was later transferred to Navi Mumbai Municipal
Hospital, Vashi due to the severity of his injuries. Police arrested the attackers’ ring-leader,
Gurunath Mumbaikar, president of the Shri Ram Foundation (Shri Ram Pratishtan
Sanghtan).27
23
Asia News, 05/09/16
24
UCA News, 20/07/16
25
Matters India, 27/07/16 <http://mattersindia.com/2016/07/christian-girl-gangraped-killed-for-not-giving-up-faith/>
26
Asia News, 08/22/16
27
Morning Star News, 28/10/16 <http://morningstarnews.org/2016/10/pastors-faith-steadfast-as-hindu-extremists-abuse-him-in-maharashtra-india/>
December 2016: A 60-strong mob attacked the Full Gospel Church in Gorakhpur’s Moti
Pokhra area on Thursday 28th. Six people were injured. Pastor A B Lal said: “The attackers
were waving saffron flags and were armed with sticks. They barged into the church and kept
chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’.” The activists from Hindu groups, including Hindu Yuva Vahini,
claimed the church had been forcibly converting Hindus to Christianity.28

January 2017: A court in Chhattisgarh acquitted two youths accused of raping a 48-year-
old nun in August 2015. The Sister, from the Salesian Missionaries of Mary Immaculate, said
that she was sleeping at the Medicare centre in Raipur when two masked men entered her
room and tied her hands and feet to the bed before gang raping her. When she did not turn
up for duty next morning, her colleagues discovered her gagged and still tied to the bed. 19-
year-old Dinesh Dhurv and 25-year-old Jitendra Pathak were acquitted by judge due to “lack
of evidence”.29

February 2017: Rev Gandham Padma Rao was returning from a pastoral visit to an elderly
church member who had been discharged from hospital. He was walking to his car when
several young men from Hindutva group Vishwa Hindu Vahini blocked his way with
motorcycles. Two of them held him while the others beat him up. His assailants fled after
his cries alerted local residents. A First Information Report was filed at Ramagundam police
station, but his assailants were described as drunken youths. All references to the Hindutva
group were removed from Pastor Rao’s statement. Rev Rao continued working for two days,
taking painkillers, before being admitted to hospital after he felt light headed. This was not
the first incident. The church’s cross was destroyed two years ago and the church’s sound
equipment was destroyed in 2015.30

April 2017: A report by two lawyers said that justice has not been served for Odhissa’s
Christians. Report author lawyer Saumya Uma told Fides: “Hindu fundamentalists have
intimidated witnesses in courts, threatening them with death. There was no conducive
atmosphere to release their testimony. As a result, all the more severe cases, or [those] with
the highest number of defendants[,] have been resolved with dismissal or acquittal.
Currently the defendants move freely, while the innocent victims live in fear and hiddeness.
This is the real situation in [Odhissa], nine years after the incident. Among Hindus and
Christians in local communities we are yet to restore confidence and brotherhood”.31

April 2017: A Pentecostal minister in Jadhua village, Bihar state, lost his hearing and
suffered other injuries after being beaten around his head outside his home by Hindutva
extremists. Arun Kumar, who is now leading the victim’s Pentecostal congregation, said that
45-year-old Pastor Kumar answered his door to a young boy on a bicycle on 5 th April who
told the pastor and his wife that a group of men were waiting outside for him. “When the
pastor stepped out, 15 men started beating him and accused him of conversions in the
village. They badgered his head with iron swords and sticks. The pastor fell down
unconscious; he had a deep injury on his head. He was bleeding severely.” Police believe that
the attackers, who called out “Jai Sri Ram” “(Hail Lord Ram”) during the assault, were Ram
Bhakts, devotees of Rama (the seventh avatar of the deity Vishnu in Hinduism). They were

28
Times of India, 30/12/16 <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/vandals-raid-up-church-allege-forced-
conversions/articleshow/56247139.cms>
29
Times of India, 03/01/17 <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/raipur/nun-rape-case-accused-acquitted-in-
chhattisgarh/articleshow/56318243.cms>
30
Morning Star News, 03/02/17 <http://morningstarnews.org/2017/02/pastor-india-assaulted-hindu-extremists/>
31
Agenzia Fides, 06/04/17
holding processions in the district that day as part of Rama Navami, a Hindu spring festival.
Police provided security for Sunday worship following the attack.32

April 2017: Police in Tamil Nadu prevented hundreds of Christians from climbing a hill as
part of the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday. There have been disputes between
Christians and Hindus as the hill in Thirukazhukundram also has a temple dedicated to the
Hindu deity Shiva on it. Both Christians and Hindus claim a history of religious celebrations
on the hill. Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, Secretary General of the Indian Bishops’
Conference told AsiaNews: “Not only was the small community of Christian Dalit prevented
from honouring the day holy for Christians all over the world, but police, led by local
authorities, used force and violence.” He added that between Christmas and New Year’s Eve,
more than 500 policemen went to a Christian shrine on the hill and destroyed statues and
crosses on the hill.33

May 2017: Christian children were detained by police in Madhya Pradesh state. On Sunday
21st, 60 children (aged 13-15) were travelling to a Christian summer camp in Nagpur. The
nine adults accompanying them were charged with “attempted conversion”. The following
day two more men were arrested on similar charges while taking 11 children to the same
camp. The children, all of whom come from Christian families, were later returned to their
parents. According to police, their parents had not followed proper procedure when
converting, so their children were legally Hindus. Police superintendent Krishnaveni
Desavatu told The Indian Express: “For changing to another religion, one needs to submit a
written application to the district collector and only after the stipulated process, a person
can change religious identity, which didn’t happen in the case of any of the parents claiming
to be Christians. This is why the children and their parents will be officially treated as Hindu
tribals and not Christians” Most tribal peoples in Madhya Pradesh were historically Animist
rather than Hindu. Dr John Dayal of the United Christian Forum said: “The involvement of
the police and local civil authorities needs closer study; apart from rampant impunity and
turning a blind eye to [Hindu nationalist] violence, the law and order institutions have been
heavily infiltrated and radicalised under almost 15 years of Bharatiya Janata Party rule in
Madhya Pradesh.”34

May 2017: Around 100 people rioted in the Church of Our Lady of Fatima in Keesara
village, Godamakunta, destroying the crucifix and breaking the statue of the Virgin. The
events on Monday 22nd came less than a fortnight after Archbishop Thumma Bala of
Hyderabad consecrated the building on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. Inspector M.
Surender of the local police suggested that the incident was caused by a land dispute,
claiming planning approval had not been formally granted for the church. Police arrested 22
people in connection with the attack in Telengana State.35

June 2017: Christians in a village in Uttar Pradesh were denied access to water for their
crops after Hindus refused to sell water from their boreholes to four Christian families.
Members of the families had been forced to take part in Hindu rituals and deny their faith.
Those who refused were beaten.36

32
Morning Star News, 09/05/17 <http://morningstarnews.org/2017/05/pastor-india-loses-hearing-assault-hindu-extremists/>
33
Asia News, 04/18/17, 04/20/17
34
Crux, 30/05/17 <https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2017/05/30/christian-children-detained-india-state-claims-hindu-law/>
35
Asia News, 05/22/17; Crux, 26/05/17
36
Morning Star News, 16/06/17 <http://morningstarnews.org/2017/06/christian-families-india-forced-hindu-ritual-denied-water/>