Tag: Anti-conversion law

Indian ‘converted by carol singers’ now claims membership of militant Hindu group

December 19, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, Bajrang Dal, Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh

An Indian man who claimed a group of carol singers illegally converted him has now said he is a member of the militant Hindu group Bajrang Dal and is unwilling to confirm his allegation. The complaint made last Thursday (14 December) to the police by Dharmendra Dohar led to the . . . Read More

India carol singers arrested for ‘trying to convert people to Christianity’

December 15, 2017 India Alphons Kannanthanam, Anti-conversion law, Beef, BJP, Catholics, Hindu nationalism, Human rights, India, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities, Narendra Modi

Six carol singers have been arrested in India after they were accused of trying to convert people to Christianity. The carol singers, one of whom is a professor at a Catholic theological college, insisted they were only singing songs, but a Hindu man alleged he had been told to “worship . . . Read More

Nepal PM ‘commits to address’ Christian concerns ahead of elections

November 8, 2017 Nepal Anti-conversion law, Converts, Elections, Hindu nationalism, Minorities, Nepal

Nepal’s Prime Minister has committed to addressing the Christian community’s concerns over religious freedoms, reports Asia News. Christians are thought to account for around 4 per cent of the population. Dinesh Bhattarai, advisor to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, said the commitment “will be immediately put into practice and everything . . . Read More

Religious freedom in Nepal ‘teetering on the edge’

October 23, 2017 Nepal Anti-conversion law, Blasphemy, Charikot, Constitution, Nepal, Religious freedom

Within less then 24 hours after the provisions on religion were approved by the Constituent Assembly in September 2015, 3 churches in the eastern Jhapa district were bombed. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Nepali president Bidhya Devi Bhandari last week signed into law a bill criminalising religious conversion and the “hurting of religious sentiment”, as two parliamentarians warn religious freedom in the country is “teetering on the edge”. Nepali MP Lokmani Dhakal and Canadian MP David Anderson expressed their concerns after an international . . . Read More

Indian Christians beaten ‘with rods and sticks’

October 17, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Hindu nationalism, India, Telangana

A Christian man involved in church work across ten villages in the southern Indian state of Telangana was severely beaten earlier this month, a source told World Watch Monitor. The victim, known as Pastor Seviya, “was attacked by five Hindu extremists with rods and thick sticks … until he became unconscious”, . . . Read More

India: yoga centre accused of forcibly reconverting women and girls to Hinduism

September 29, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, Converts, Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, India, Kerala, Kochi, Pune, Women

Police in the south-western Indian state of Kerala have launched an investigation into a complaint by a woman in her twenties who says she was detained and harassed for 22 days at a yoga centre because she had married a Christian, according to The Times of India. A case was . . . Read More

India: ‘pressure from right-wing Hindus’ forced closure of Catholic children’s hostel

September 20, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, Hindu nationalism, India, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh

A children’s hostel owned by the Catholic Church has been closed down by the government in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. A priest told Matters India that it was because the authorities are “under mounting pressure from right-wing Hindu groups”. The hostel, in the western district of Guna, allowed . . . Read More

India: senior Church leaders call on Modi to help ‘control ideological hatred’ in Jharkhand

September 15, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Dalits, Himachal Pradesh, India, Jharkhand, Narendra Modi, Ram Nath Kovind, RSS

Hindu radicals burn a dummy replica of local Jharkhand Archbishop, Cardinal Telephore Toppo of Ranchi. (Photo: Catholic Bishops' Conference of India)

In a strongly worded open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) called on him to intervene and “curb the spread of hate created by the BJP chief minister” of Jharkhand state. The letter follows the burning of a dummy replica of local Jharkhand . . . Read More

India: two Christian women accused of ‘forced conversions’

September 11, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, Hindu nationalism, India, Jharkhand, Karnataka

Two Christian women in the southwestern Indian state of Karnataka have been escorted to a police station by Hindu activists, who accused them of trying to convert other women, despite there being no complaints from the women themselves, reports Asia News. According to the activists, the two women – known . . . Read More

India: cautious response to appointment of first Christian to Modi’s cabinet

September 6, 2017 India Alphons Kannanthanam, Anti-conversion law, BJP, Catholics, India, Jharkhand, Kerala, Narendra Modi

Alphons Kannanthanam was sworn in on 3 September at the Presidential Palace in New Del

Church officials in India’s Christian heartland of Kerala are cautiously optimistic following the appointment of a first Christian MP to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, amid heated political debate. Modi’s past three years at the head of a Hindu nationalist government (the BJP) have seen a rise in radical extremism . . . Read More

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