By Aishwarya KUMAR
Church walls crumble in India’s Kandhamal district, where brutal attacks on Christians 16 years ago means many survivors still worry about their minority’s place in a Hindu-majority nation.
With India’s election on the horizon and Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi widely expected to win, many Christians fear they may once again become targets.
Deepti was among those attacked in 2008 when mobs rampaged through parts of India’s eastern state of Odisha after the murder of a Hindu priest and his four followers.
The murder was widely blamed on Christians, and the ensuing revenge rampage left at least 101 people dead.
Aged 19 at the time, she was gang raped by a mob enraged that her uncle had refused to recant his Catholicism.
“I remember it every minute,” the 35-year-old domestic worker said in tears, using a pseudonym because she feared being identified.
This story was originally published in barrons.com. Read the full story here.