By CJP Team
In recent times, India has been witnessing a dangerous shift where religious minorities, particularly Christians, are increasingly subjected to targeted violence. What once were isolated incidents have now become systematic assaults driven by far-right Hindu groups such as the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal. These groups accuse Christians of converting Hindus under coercion or deceit, a claim which has little to no basis but is often used to justify violent attacks. The hostility against the Christian community is further exacerbated by the complicity of the state machinery, where the police, instead of protecting the vulnerable, are either passive spectators or active participants in these acts of persecution.
The United Christian Forum (UCF), which monitors hate crimes against Christians, noted that violence against the community has seen an alarming rise. In 2023, as per their report, over 687 incidents of violence were documented against Christians, depicting that an average of two Christians is attacked every day in India. The UCF report had contained incidents ranging from vandalism of churches to outright harassment and detention of Christians for holding prayer meetings. The issue has taken a political turn, with laws such as the anti-conversion legislation—present in several states—being used as tools to silence and intimidate Christian communities, despite the fact that religious conversions, particularly forced ones, are a rare phenomenon in India.
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Furthermore, another recent report by the UCF documented 161 incidents in the first 75 days of 2024, with January 2024 witnessing 70 reported cases, followed by 62 in February, and 29 in the first half of March alone. The report highlighted that burial rights denied to families even as fabricated cases have seen over 100 Indian Christians arrested. Furthermore, according to the report, 122 pastors and other Christians from the community have been arrested so far on charges of religious conversion.
This story was originally published in cjp.org.in. Read the full story here.