India persecution: Christian family confined to home after tribal animists attack

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A Christian family is confined to their home after being attacked and harassed by tribal animists in India’s Jharkhand state, Morning Star News reports. India now ranks 10th on the US Open Doors Watch List of countries where Christians are persecuted: the country ranked 31st in 2013, just before Hindu nationalists Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in May 2014.

The Korwa family, including two young children, were beaten by animists enraged at the sound of praise and worship coming from their home in Khala village, Garhwa District. After charging Mr. Korwa with criminally committing a “breach of the peace,” local police ordered the family not to set foot outside their home.

The family lives next to a main street and, according to Asha Korwa, the mother of the two children aged three and six, local tribal animists were angered at the sounds of sung words such as “Hallelujah” coming from the home. On January 22, the animists took action and a mob gathered at the house. “A batch of strongmen from the community stormed into our home and started badgering us, ‘Why are you shouting hallelujah? How dare you worship a foreign god,’” Mrs. Korwa told Morning Star News. The village president and police were also in attendance as the family, including the children, were beaten by the animists. A week later, the animists returned and again beat up the family.

During one attack, the animists brought news media with them, in order to broadcast that the Korwa family are Christians, Morning Star News reports. “In less than 24 hours, the videos and photographs got circulated across the state,” Mrs. Korwa said. “We did not kill anyone, we did not steal anybody’s money, and we did not cheat anyone. Yet we have been in the spotlight only because we have put faith in Christ. They have projected us as criminals.”

The police at Garhwa police station charged Mr. Sukender Korwa with a breach of peace and public tranquillity under Section 107 of the Criminal Procedure Code, his wife told Morning Star News. “They told him that nobody from my family will step out of the village and that, if necessary, they would take our entire family into custody.”

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