India

Eighteen more pastors were arrested in India’s Uttar Pradesh state last week, on false charges of forcibly converting Hindus to Christianity, CBN News reports.

The International Christian Concern (ICC) aid organization reports that Christians in India’s Uttar Pradesh state are on high alert; emboldened by upcoming state elections, radicalized Hindus have intensified their attacks on believers, imprisoning a greater number of them. 

Radical Hindu nationalists attacked a group of newly Christian believers in India’s Chhattisgarh state recently, causing a number of victims to be rushed to hospital, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, India ranks 11 on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2023 of top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

There have been 525 attacks by Hindu nationalists against Christians across India this year alone, Christian Today (CT) reports. Ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, India ranks 11TH on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2023 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

Bowing to pressure from Hindu extremists, and with no evidence or witnesses, authorities in India’s Uttar Pradesh state charged Pastor Bajarang Rawat with forcibly converting Hindus to Christianity, and jailed him for 23 days before releasing him on bail, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

In a move perceived by local church leaders as hostility toward Christianity, authorities in India’s Madhya Pradesh state have refused to renew the permit of Christian orphanage to receive international charitable funding, the Christian Post (CP) reports.

The tribal Christian Kuki-Zo community in India’s Manipur state continues to face deadly attacks from extremist members of the Hindu majority Meitei community, despite recent military interventions, the Christian Post (CP) reports.

Christians in India’s Madhya Pradesh state say police have issued at least 40 churches with suspicious, discriminatory, questionnaire notices requesting information they believe could be released to Hindu extremists to attack them with, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

Indian Christians have urged prayers after Hindu nationalists stormed a church in Delhi during Sunday prayers, vandalized it, and attacked believers.

Five Christians in India’s Uttar Pradesh state were arrested and charged last week for allegedly trying to convert Hindus to Christianity in violation of the state’s anti-conversion law, Christian Today reports.

A Christian teacher in central India has been violently attacked by police and charged with human trafficking for escorting a small group of tribal Christian students by bus from their home state of Chhattisgarh to a Bible institute in Kerala state, with their parents’ consent, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

A mob of Hindu nationalists violently attacked four Christians in central India’s Chhattisgarh state because they refused to renounce Christ and return to Hinduism, International Christian Concern (ICC) reported last week.

While India’s central government remains largely silent, Christians in the north-east Indian state of Manipur are continuing to suffer deadly upheaval amid protracted violence between the powerful Hindu majority Meitei community and the Tribal Christian Kuki minority, Global Christian Relief (GCR) reports.

A Christian leader in India’s Uttar Pradesh state has reported to the International Christian Concern aid organization that at least 57 Christians have now been imprisoned in the state on false charges of forcibly converting Hindus to Christianity.

Seven Christians in India’s Chhattisgarh state have suffered severe injuries following a brutal attack on them by Hindu nationalists earlier this month, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

India’s prime minister on Thursday condemned the reported sexual assault of two Christian women by Hindu men in northeast India and vowed to protect the “daughters of Manipur” state.

While the first half of 2023 saw a surge in violence against Christians in India, believers in the southern state of Karnataka are rejoicing as a newly elected state government has vowed to repeal harsh anti-conversion legislation and invest in projects that will benefit them and other religious minorities, Christianity Today (CT) reports. 

A new study published by the United Christian Forum (UCF) shows there were 400 violent attacks on Christians in India in the first half of this year alone, the Christian Post reports. Documenting a surge in violence against Christians in India, the study shows the month of June saw an average of three attacks per day.

Christians in northeastern India may face government neglect in terms of aid as the country recovers from recent heavy monsoon rains that affected around half a million people, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

Amid the ongoing deadly and destructive tribal conflict in India’s Manipur state, a local Christian leader has pleaded for help saying Hindu extremist members of the Meitei tribe are committing “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide” against Christians from the Kuki and Zo tribes, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.