A group of men who assaulted two Christian girls for attempting to convert Hindus to Christianity in Telangana, India, has sparked outrage throughout India.

A video of the incident, which became public in early November, has raised concerns over Hindu nationalists taking the law into their hands and attacking Christians over allegations of conversion. 

The incident took place around two months ago in Almasguda, Maheshwaram mandal, under the Meerpet police station limits in Rangareddy district of Telangana state near Hyderabad, the capital city. 

Two of the attackers have been identified and arrested by the police after protests by the Christian community in front of the police station. 

Accusations and Assault 

In the video, a group of men is seen confronting the two young women — who appeared to be minors — accusing them of attempting to convert school children to Christianity by offering them chocolates. 

The two girls are heard denying the allegations, saying they were merely visiting relatives in the area.  

However, one of the men slaps them brutally and verbally abuses them in public. One woman is seen sitting nearby, but she does not make any attempt to stop the men from attacking the girls. 

While the girls’ agonized apologies are heard, the man is relentlessly hitting the two girls alternately without mercy, even as another man is making half-hearted attempts to restrain the attacker. 

One of the girls has her glasses shattered by a forceful blow to her face from the man, who is not done hitting before he assaults the other pleading girl. 

The attackers accused the young women of attempting forced religious conversions by allegedly distributing chocolates to schoolchildren — a frequent, unsubstantiated trope used by Hindu nationalists in India to justify street-level violence. 

Protests and Public Response 

Meanwhile, the video of the assault went viral, triggering immediate street protests by members of the Dalit Christian organizations on Nov. 4 to demand the arrest of the perpetrators. 

Dalit Christians (or Christian Dalits) are people in the Indian subcontinent who converted to Christianity from historically marginalized, low-caste or “untouchable” (Dalit) backgrounds. 

The protests by the Dalit Christians were met with aggressive counter-sloganeering by local Hindu outfits, forcing the Telangana state police to deploy additional forces and use force to prevent a full-scale riot.  

While the police swiftly arrested the primary perpetrators, the incident underscored a deeper systemic shift: the normalization of extrajudicial moral policing. 

Christian leaders, political figures and human rights advocates condemned the assault and called for an impartial investigation and protection. 

Sabitha Indra Reddy, former Telangana minister, condemned the brutality on X. Reddy stated that objections regarding religious freedom should be pursued legally rather than through violence against women. 

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.