1/25/20 India (International Christian Concern) – Uttar Pradesh is a northern state in India that is especially hostile towards Christians, according to sources who inform Morning Star News. Police in the area work alongside Hindu extremists and police brutality is especially aimed at Christian and Muslim minorities. “It has become a trend that a batch of Hindu extremists barge inside Christian homes and accuse them of proselytizing Hindus to Christianity,” said Dinanath Jaiswar, a volunteer with the legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom-India.

“The situation turned tense as the upper-caste leaders and Hindu extremists insisted the police officers level serious allegations of forced religious conversions under stringent sections of the Indian Penal Code,” said a legal advocate for the wrongly imprisoned.

When Christians deny any criminal conduct, they are charged with attempting to convert Hindus and illegal prayer gatherings. The Alliance Defending Freedom group aids Christians that have been locked behind bars or are still at the police stations. They try as quickly as possible to release them, although bail in India is a lengthy process. If they are released, there is often evidence of torture, beatings, and mistreatment.

Open Door’s World Watch List ranked India in 2013 as the 31^st top country for persecution. Ever since India’s extreme political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), came into power in 2014, India has risen to number 10 on the World Watch List in 2019 and stayed there in the recent announcement of the List this month.

 For interviews, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: press@persecution.org