Tag: Anti-conversion law

India: Eight Christians acquitted of kidnapping and forced conversion

February 21, 2020 India Anti-conversion law, Children, India, Madhya Pradesh

The eight Christians were arrested while travelling with the children on a train. (Photo: Getty Images)

Two and a half years after they were arrested, an Indian court has acquitted eight Christians accused of kidnapping and forced conversion of 60 children, reports the Catholic news site UCAN. Their case was dismissed 18 February by the criminal court in Ratlam in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. . . . Read More

India: Christian convert killed and left on the road, beheaded

February 22, 2019 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Converts, Hindutva, India, Narendra Modi, Odisha

A street in a village in India. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

An Indian man who had become a Christian last year was killed and beheaded in eastern India earlier this month, reports Persecution Relief. On 11 February, Anant Ram Gand, 40, was taken from his home in the village of Raigarh Tehsil, in the district of Nabarangapur, Odisha, by three men . . . Read More

‘Situation for India’s religious minorities is at tipping point’ – report

February 12, 2019 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Hindutva, India, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Minorities, Narendra Modi, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh

The report shows that since Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014, the number of violent acts against India's religious minorities have increased (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A report by a religious freedom watchdog shows a dramatic increase in the number of attacks on Christians and Muslims in India in the last four years and “the situation … is at a tipping point”. The number of reported incidents in the first three months of 2018 was greater . . . Read More

India: Life sentence for top politician gives hope for justice for Kandhamal Christians

December 21, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, Christmas, India, Jharkhand, Kandhamal, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities, Odisha, Tamil Nadu

Rights activists say the lifetime prison sentence given to a top politician in India on 17 December for his involvement in the riots that led to the killing of thousands of Sikhs in 1984, gives hope to India’s Christian minority still waiting for justice, reports Matters India. The High Court . . . Read More

Indian Christians heave sighs of relief as Hindu nationalists lose elections in key states

December 12, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Christmas, Delhi, Elections, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities, Police, Rajasthan

Christians can heave sighs of relief as the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP has been thrown out of power in three key states in central India that have reported dozens of incidents of anti-Christian violence and harassment. The BJP, which had enjoyed unstinted power in two of the states – Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh – for 15 . . . Read More

Nepal ‘anything but progressive’ on religious freedom

December 6, 2018 Nepal Anti-conversion law, Churches, Hindu nationalism, Nepal, Proselytism, Religious freedom

The situation for Christians in Nepal has “worsened” since a new criminal code came into effect earlier this year, writes human rights activist Prakash Khadka for the Catholic news site UCAN. Nepal only became a secular country in 2007. Until that time it had been a Hindu monarchy for centuries . . . Read More

Nepal: 4 women arrested for ‘attempting to forcefully convert people to Christianity’

November 8, 2018 Nepal Anti-conversion law, Dalits, Kathmandu, Nepal, Proselytism

Nepal Entry, Meeting Sonam Tsering (guitarist, leads tours up to Annapurna, surprisingly a Christian Tibetan), Intro to everything, Pema Wangdi Lama recording studio, Boudhanath 1 (Flickr / Damien KR / CC)

Four Christian women were arrested earlier this week in Nepal on suspicion of attempting to convert people to Christianity by force, Asia News reports. The women – two of whom are Japanese – were accused by residents of proselytising door-to-door. They were followed and filmed, and the footage was passed . . . Read More

India: Violence against Christians continues in run-up to 2019 elections

October 10, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, Assam, BJP, Caste, India, Narendra Modi, UN, Uttar Pradesh

Hindu nationalists vandalised two Christian places of worship in the northern Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Assam in the last two weeks, reports AsiaNews. On 29 September a statue of Saint John Bosco, also known as Don Bosco, was desecrated in the city of Tezpur, Assam, northeast India. It . . . Read More

Nepal’s criminalisation of conversion a ‘direct infringement’ of religious freedom

September 20, 2018 Nepal Anti-conversion law, Churches, Human rights, Minorities, Nepal, Religious freedom

The clause in Nepal’s constitution that prohibits religious conversions was added to “protect Hinduism at the expense of other religions”, says advocacy group CSW, on the third anniversary of the amended constitution. As World Watch Monitor reported, Nepal’s Christian minority feared that the so-called “anti-conversion” measure, which came into force . . . Read More

EU should ‘put people of the world’ first in quest for religious freedom – report

September 6, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Anti-conversion law, Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Europe, India, Jan Figel, Minorities, Pakistan, Religious freedom

Members of the European Parliament (EP) have called on the EU to “put the people of the world before our financial and political interests”, in a report about religious freedom. The Annual Report on Freedom of Religion or Belief 2017, presented by the EP Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or . . . Read More

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