The sutures protruding from the deep, still-fresh wound on 32-year-old Mangu’s head are the latest evidence of the persecution faced by Christians in the tribal belt of Bastar in Chhattisgarh, India. 

Families like Mangu’s are willing to pay a heavy price — social ostracism, physical violence, and even homelessness — for their faith in Jesus. 

On April 13, Mangu and six other Christians were brutally attacked in a village nearly 16 miles south of Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh.  

The Christian men were digging a grave for a fellow believer who had died. As they worked, a mob of more than 100 radical Hindu nationalists surrounded them at the half-dug grave. Armed with sickles and iron rods, the attackers mercilessly beat the Christians who had gathered to bury their deceased brother in Christ. 

Sitting beside Mangu with his legs folded, trying to chase flies away from the wound on his head, 60-year-old Jaggu recounted the horror to International Christian Concern (ICC). 

“I couldn’t keep up with the aggressive mob as they chased me,” Jaggu said. “I fell to the ground, and one of the attackers grabbed a sharp stone and struck me on the head. My clothes were drenched in blood as I continued to receive punches and blows all over my body.”  

The provocation behind the violent attack was the burial of a Christian within the village premises. Radical Hindu nationalists claimed that burying a Christian body in the village would defile the community and the soil. As a result, the deceased believer could not be buried in the village cemetery. The body remained in the village for three days before authorities, with the assistance of police and local administration, transported it nearly 20 miles away for burial. 

According to reports, there have been more than 35 incidents related to Christian burials in the past year alone in which violence erupted against Christians. It has increasingly become difficult for Christians in the region to conduct dignified burials for their dead. 

This was not the first time this village had witnessed such aggression. On multiple occasions, Christians were pressured to deny their faith and return to Hinduism. When they refused to recant their faith, they were brutally attacked and later excommunicated from the village. Christians were banned from purchasing goods at the village’s only grocery store and denied access to the public water source for all residents. Many Christians were further deprived of their livelihoods, as they were refused work opportunities within the village. 

“Once I was part of the attackers,” Bijlu told ICC. “But now I am happy to testify that Jesus healed my wife from a deadly disease, and he gave me peace and hope in my life. I am willing to pay the price for my faith.” 

Bijlu accepted Jesus three years ago and was among the seven Christians severely injured in the attack who later required hospitalization. 

Despite severe persecution, the church congregation in the village continued to grow. Since the rise of the BJP at the federal level in 2014 and the subsequent escalation of persecution incidents, the local church has grown from 30 believers to nearly 200 members throughout the years. 

“Almost all Christians in Chhattisgarh are unable to bury their dead in their own villages,” a Christian leader, who requested anonymity, told ICC. “This should be considered a basic human right, and the state is supposed to ensure dignified burials. However, the pain of transporting the deceased to faraway cities is both emotionally distressing and financially unaffordable for poor Christians.” 

Pastor Patra, who serves a small congregation on the outskirts of Jagdalpur, said, “I have been threatened and abused several times in the past for conducting worship service, but this time my family and I had to flee the village because our lives were in danger.” 

Pastor Patra was dragged out of the house where he was praying with his congregation on April 26, when a mob of nearly 70 Hindu nationalists stormed the gathering.  

“They pulled me out and started beating me,” he said. 

There was visible anxiety and genuine fear on Patra’s face as he searched for a rented house in the town.  

“Generally, Christians are not given houses for rent,” he said. “For a pastor, it is even more difficult.” 

As tears streamed down his cheeks, weighed down by grief and uncertainty, Santosh recounted the struggles he endured and how he was forced to flee nearly 125 miles because he refused to compromise on his faith. 

“The entire village mob, along with the village leaders, gathered at my doorstep,” Santosh said. “They told me, ‘If you deny Jesus, you will be allowed to live in this house and remain in the village. If not, we will lock the doors of your house, and you must leave the village.’” 

Like Santosh’s family, 10 Christian families from Sukma district were forced to flee their village and are now displaced more than 30 miles from their homes. These families are currently taking shelter in a local church, where they lack basic facilities and reliable means of survival. The children’s education has also been severely affected due to the displacement. 

With the help of a fellow believer, Santosh, his wife, and their two children are now staying in a temporary shelter far from their home. 

“At times I feel completely lost,” Santosh shared. “I cannot attend family events anymore, whether funerals, birthdays, weddings, or other important occasions. I have been cut off from my own people.” 

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email us. To support ICC’s work around the world, please give to our Where Most Needed Fund.