As per a recent statement released by the United Christian Forum, an average of two Christians is attacked every day in India. The said statement, released on December 14, also provided that a total of 687 incidents of violence against Christians had been reported in 334 days of 2023. Out of these 687 incidents, 531 took place in the North Indian states of Uttar Pradesh (287) Chhattisgarh (148), Jharkhand (49) and Haryana (47).
The statement highlights that even after the Indian Constitution guaranteeing the fundamental right of a citizen to practice, propagate and profess their religion, India still ranks as the eleventh-worst country for the persecution of Christians in the Open Doors World Watch annual ranking.
“This is in spite of Article 25 of the Indian Constitution which guarantees the right to choose any religion of one’s choice,” the statement notes.
The UCF statement further points to the ironical existence of “Freedom of Religion Acts” in 11 out of 28 states which mandates a person to seek permission from the government to follow a religion of his/her choice by filing written information to a revenue officer. Holding it a contravention to the UN convention, the statement provides “In our country, today, we have so called “Freedom of Religion Acts” which is popularly known as “anti-conversion laws” in 11 out of the 28 states wherein a person living in India is expected to seek permission from the government to follow a religion of his/her choice by filing written information to a revenue officer in contravention to UN convention.”
This story was originally published in sabrangindia.in. Read the full story here .