Tag: Chhattisgarh

Jharkhand the latest Indian state to pass ‘anti-conversion bill’

August 15, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, India, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Protestants, Ram Nath Kovind

The Indian state of Jharkhand passed an “anti-conversion bill” at its Assembly meeting on 12 August, despite demands that the bill should be sent to a select committee for further scrutiny. “This is not normal,” Indian journalist Anto Akkara told World Watch Monitor. “It shows the growing arrogance of the . . . Read More

Indian Christians faced almost as many attacks in first half of 2017 as all of 2016

August 8, 2017 India BJP, Chhattisgarh, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, India, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Narendra Modi, RSS

In the first six months of 2017, Indian Christians were harassed, threatened or attacked for their faith in 410 reported incidents (248 in the first quarter) – almost as many as the total for the whole of 2016 (441). This is according to figures compiled by partners of Open Doors, . . . Read More

India: another state expected to pass ‘anti-conversion law’

August 3, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, Chhattisgarh, Dalits, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Protestants

The north-east Indian state of Jharkhand has cleared the draft of an “anti-conversion bill” that could mean four-year prison sentences and 100,000 rupee fines (US$1,500) for those found to have forced another person to change religions, reports The New Indian Express. If what has been dubbed the “Religious Freedom Bill . . . Read More

Uncertain future for Indian Christians after BJP’s election victories

March 22, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Catholics, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand

India’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to have consolidated its political position across India after the party won several state elections. These were held in February and March; after results were counted in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur, it had secured a comfortable majority in India’s most populous . . . Read More

India: Chhattisgarh church remains shut, 6 weeks after Hindu mob forced closure

March 17, 2017 India BJP, Chhattisgarh, Hindu nationalism, Kerala, Narendra Modi

An Indian church remains shut, six weeks after a mob of angry Hindus halted a Sunday service and forced the pastor to close the church. He says the local government has sided with the mob. The church is in Dalli Rajhara, a mining city in the central state of Chhattisgarh, . . . Read More

Indian evangelist suffers brain haemorrhage after police grilling

January 24, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Hyderabad, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi, Odisha, Telangana, Vishva Hindu Parishad

K.A. Swamy.World Watch Monitor An Indian Christian has suffered a brain haemorrhage after he was interrogated by police about his role in distributing Bibles and other Christian literature in the city where he works as a professor of engineering. K.A. Swamy, 47, was marched to the police station at . . . Read More

Police rapes, acquittals and false accusations highlight Christians’ vulnerability in India

January 12, 2017 India Chhattisgarh, Dalits, Hindu nationalism, India, Raipur, Rape, Women

The acquittal of two suspects in the gang rape of a Catholic nun, and a series of rapes by security forces in remote areas of the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh have highlighted the vulnerability of women from marginalised communities. “If you are a woman tribal or from a minority, . . . Read More

India: Christian grandmother murdered for ‘disturbing the peace’

December 9, 2016 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Hindu nationalism, Narendra Modi, Naxalites, Telangana

Samari Kasabi’s son, Sukura (left), and his family outside their village home in Dokawaya, Chhattisgarh.Courtesy Open Doors International An Indian grandmother was stripped naked, beaten to death and her body burned, apparently because her Christian faith was “disturbing the peace” in her village. The incident, in the central Indian . . . Read More

What next for India’s beleaguered Christian minority?

September 12, 2016 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Narendra Modi, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh

Fifty religious leaders from the Christian and Muslim minorities in India met together last week to discuss the religious freedom challenges facing both groups under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. Christians are “facing physical, symbolic and structural violence” from Hindu extremists across the country, said Father Z. Devasagaya Raj at . . . Read More

Anti-Christian violence in India at an ‘alarming level’

August 2, 2016 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Hindu nationalism, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi, Pentecostals

A message is held aloft at a protest march against anti-Christian violence – in Bangalore in February 2015.World Watch Monitor The leader of a Christian advocacy group in India says that incidents of anti-Christian violence in the country have reached an “alarming level”, with more than 30 incidents a . . . Read More

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