India

A church leader in India’s state of Madhya Pradesh remained detained Monday after being convicted “on false charges of forcing Hindus to convert to Christianity,” Christians told Worthy News.

A pastor in India’s Madhya Pradesh state has been found guilty on false charges of forcing Hindus to convert to Christianity and has been sentenced to five years imprisonment, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party since 2014, India ranks 11 on the Open Doors World Watch List of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

Indian Christian leaders are skeptical about the federal government’s “road map” for peace in India’s conflict-torn Manipur state, where scores of Christians were killed and hundreds of churches and other properties were destroyed.

Amid ongoing persecution against Christians in India by Hindu extremists, a pastor and several other believers were assaulted during a Hindu nationalist attack on a church service in Odisha state on Sunday, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

In the last four years, authorities in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state arrested 1,682, people under an extreme anti-conversion law designed to suppress non-Hindu religious freedom, the International Christian Concern (ICC) advocacy organization reports.

More than 300 American Christian clergy and lay leaders have publicly called on the United States government to take action in holding the government of India accountable for ongoing, chronic human rights abuses against Indian Christians at the hands of Hindu nationalists.

Local Hindu leaders have forced more than 100 tribal Christians in eastern India’s Odisha state to undergo a formal ceremony symbolizing a rejection of Christianity and a return to Hinduism, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

A pastor in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state has been arrested by Hindu authorities who falsely accused him of bribing Hindus to become Christians, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

In a rare move of encouragement for Christians in India, the High Court of the south Indian state of Kerala ruled that two young adults can have the religion cited on their official documents changed from Hindu to Christian, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

Members of a house church congregation in India’s Uttarakhand state were violently attacked by a mob of around 150 Hindu extremists on July 14, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

Hindu nationalists violently attacked or threatened Christians on three occasions in the same area of central India within the last month, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

A Christian woman was beaten to death with a hammer and other weapons in central India after she abandoned Hinduism and turned to faith in Christ, several sources confirmed Wednesday.

Seven Christian families in eastern India’s Odisha state have been rendered homeless after Hindu nationalists pressured their village leaders to evict them for leaving Hinduism, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

Extremist Hindus in India’s Chhattisgarh state last week hacked to death a female relative of theirs because she left Hinduism to follow Christ, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

Lawmakers in India’s Rajasthan state are considering approving the type of anti-conversion law that has led to the intense persecution of Christians and other non-Hindus in Indian states that already have such legislation.

Eleven Christians in India’s Madhya Pradesh state have just been released from prison after being jailed in 2022 on baseless charges of forcing people to leave Hinduism for Christianity, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

A pastor in India’s Madhya Pradesh state spent three tortuous weeks in a harsh prison earlier this year after being falsely accused of forcing Hindus to become Christians, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

Council authorities in India’s Chhattisgarh state have denied basic human necessities to 15 Christian families who refuse to renounce Christ and worship a local Hindu god, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

The International Christian Concern (ICC) humanitarian organization has reported that as many as 70 Christians in India’s Uttar Pradesh state remain imprisoned without trial for allegedly converting Hindus to Christianity.

A UK-based Christian advocacy organization has renewed its calls for India to revoke the harsh anti-conversion laws that have been abused by Hindu nationalist extremists to persecute Christians across the vast nation, Christian Today (CT) reports.