ICC Note:

A recent report released by the Evangelical Fellowship of India has claimed that Christians in India have been attacked at least 134 times since the beginning of 2016. This comes as a shock because the number of attacks on Christians in India looks likely to be double that of 2014 and 2015. The persecution of Christians in India has skyrocketed since the current government took power in May 2014. Due to its Hindu nationalist roots and its lack of enforcement of the rights of Christians, many claim the current government is responsible for this dramatic rise in persecution. 

8/22/2016 India (Sight Magazine) – At least 134 incidents of violence against Christians in India were carried out in the first half of 2016 alone, compared with 147 incidents in all of 2014 and 177 in 2015, according to an independent report.

The Evangelical Fellowship of India’s Religious Liberty Commission (EFIRLC) notes that cases chronicled from 1st January to 30th June were just a “fraction of the violence on the ground”.

Of major cases of violence against Christians across 21 of India’s 29 states, the report places Uttar Pradesh as leading the list with 25, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh with 17 and 15 respectively.

“In Bastar, Chhattisgarh, religious fanatics attacked a church and tried to set a pastor and his pregnant wife on fire after thrashing them at remote Tokapal in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region,” the report states. “The pastor and his wife managed to escape after they were beaten up and doused with petrol. The attackers destroyed the electronic equipment at the church, besides thrashing the pastor’s children and setting ablaze Scriptures and furniture. The FIR [First Information Report] stated the assailants were well-armed and even tried to burn the pastor’s house.”

Physical violence, arrests on false allegations and stopping church services were frequent crimes, with attacks on churches, vandalism and threats also recurring. One person was reported to have been murdered because of his faith.

EFIRLC’s report, backed by independent fact-finding surveys, points out that local units of the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and other Hindu extremist splinter factions affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh were the groups most often behind the violence.

Though anti-Christian violence is assumed to be more widespread across the north Indian states, Tamil Nadu in the south rose to fourth position on the list with 14 incidents.

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