On 10th April, 2019, Pastor Jose along with a few others visited Beechu Ram’s house in Ghatampur village located in Ghazipur in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
During the time of prayer, an unidentified youth trespassed into the house and started recording a video of the proceedings. He then contacted the local police and alleged that the Christians were converting Hindu villagers inside the house.
The police promptly arrived and demanded that the congregation members report to the police station. Later, five people, including Jose, were detained on charges of forcible conversion.
In some Indian states, anti-conversion laws criminalise converting someone from one faith to another by inducement or fraud, which is often subjectively interpreted. Failure to send notices or seek permission from local governments before converting or participating in a church service where conversions happen can result in fines or imprisonment.
Cases of threats, harassment and intimidation have become the most common forms of persecution against Christians in India, who make up an estimated 2.3 per cent of the population. The standard rhetoric is the allegation that Christians are indulging in religious conversion activities by luring Dalits or tribal Indians with money, jobs or other material benefits. Dalits, formerly called untouchables, exist outside the Hindu caste system and face systemic discrimination. Tribal Indians, although they may observe pagan rituals, are considered Hindu by the state.
From 2016 to 2019, Indian Christians recorded 1,774 cases of hate crimes across 25 states and three Union Territories of India, according to a report released this week by the Indian non-profit Persecution Relief. The highest numbers of cases were recorded in 2019 (527 cases) compared to 447 cases in 2018, 440 in 2017 and 330 in 2016. By these measures, Christians in India are facing the greatest hostility since India’s independence in 1947, when the partition of Pakistan and India led to widespread violence.
The rise of Hindu nationalism through the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election in 2014 have been widely criticised for rising attacks against Muslims and Christians. The BJP rules 11 states directly and five through coalition governments, out of the 28 States and 9 Union Territories of India.
Uttar Pradesh, a northern state bordering the capital, registered the maximum number of cases against Christians in 2019, for the third year in a row. Other leading hostile states of Christian persecution in India last year were Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Bihar. The southern state Tamil Nadu witnessed the largest spike in persecution attacks, especially in villages. Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh recorded fewer cases after Congress came to power in these states.
Christians comprise only 0.18 per cent of Uttar Pradesh’s population, according to the Census of 2011. In June, 2019, for example, some Christian families in the state were assaulted and denied water for their crops. Others were beaten by Hindu nationalists inside churches.
In one such incident, police officers disrupted a Sunday worship service and detained four women and two men, including a female pastor leading worship. At the police station, the female pastor was assaulted, and boiling tea was forcibly thrust in her mouth when she fainted.
Police often respond to calls from Hindu activists belonging to radical groups like Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal who allege charges of forcible religious conversion against the pastors. Often Christian clerics are detained and harassed without evidence against them.
In Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh, police broke up a congregational gathering of 6,000 worshippers on 15th October. The police dismantled the stage and asked worshippers to vacate the outdoor venue. In Uttar Pradesh, the Hindu YuvaVahini, a Hindu youth militant group founded by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, is behind a number of attacks on members of minority communities including Christians and Muslims.
In the eastern state of Odisha in August this year, a mob of over 50 religious fanatics illegally trespassed into the Jesus Mission Church, disrupting the worship service. Dickson Ranjan Hanuman, who ministers at Nazapali, a small village in Manesar area in Sambalpur district of Odisha, recalled the horror.
“As soon as I stepped out, the mob brutally beat me up,” he said. “The fanatics demanded that the worship service be stopped.”
“I assured them that we would not meet from the following week,” Hanuman continued. “But the ruthless mob was unrelenting. They continued with the brutal assault and coerced me to sign a formatted letter, falsely stating that I was involved in conversion activities and was caught red handed, doing it. They then dragged me to the local police station and lodged a police complaint against me.”
In Tamil Nadu, most of the persecutors of the church attacks have been engineered by Hindu Munnani, a religious and cultural organisation, and their affiliated organisations and members. In Tamil Nadu a church was destroyed in a suspicious arson attack in April this year.
“The entire church structure was reduced to ashes along with the pulpit, musical instrument, microphones, floor mats, Holy Bibles, song books etc,” Pastor Sachin said.
In states like Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the Bajrang Dal, classified as a militant organisation by the CIA, is very active. They have formed local teams in most villages to ensure that no Christian is allowed to worship. In the northern desert state of Rajasthan, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad has been behind many of the attacks.
According to organizations like Human Rights Watch, the acts of violence against Christians include arson of churches, conversion of Christians by force into Hinduism and threats of physical violence, sexual assaults, murder of Christian priests and destruction of Christian schools, colleges, children’s shelters, orphanages and cemeteries.
Persecution Relief has urged Modi to speak out condemning crimes against minorities and to ensure and support full religious freedom for all minorities.
Shuriah Niazi is a correspondent for Religion Unplugged and Thomas Reuters Foundation based in Central India.
