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 2014 and 177 in 2015, according to a recent report.
The Evangelical Fellowship of India’s Religious Liberty Commission (EFIRLC) notes that cases chronicled from Jan. 1 to June 30 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.
Physical violence, arrests on false allegations and stopping church services were frequent crimes, with attacks on churches, vandalizing and threats also recurring.
EFIRLC’s report 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 No. 4 on the list with 14 incidents.
Some of them were brutal. A pastor from Kambam in Theni District of Tamil Nadu was attacked during a worship service Jan. 17. Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) activists attacked his head with a heavy, sharp object, leaving him to what they supposed would be his death. Emergency treatment for profuse bleeding saved his life.
Harassed, threatened
In many incidents Christians were accused of conversion by force or allurement and charged under so-called Freedom of Religion Acts after they were harassed, threatened and thrashed. The acts, popularly known as anti-conversion laws, declare conversion by force, allurement or fraudulent means to be criminal. Radical Hindu groups commonly use them to falsely implicate Christians.
In Dhar District of Madhya Pradesh, for example, Balu Sastya and his wife, Bhuri, both blind, were called to pray for a sick person. When they had gathered at the house of the sick person along with 11 others, a mob of more than 50 people with sticks and stones surrounded the house.
When police arrived the extremists filed a complaint against Sastya and others, accusing them of attempting to convert gullible villagers by promising them physical healing. Sastya, his wife, and their 3-year-old son had to spend two days and three nights in jail before they were released on bail.
Related to city, state elections
The escalation of anti-Christian violence was consistently related to city and state election times according to the report.
According to EFIRLC general secretary Vijayesh Lal, “While Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have a history of anti-Christian policies and violent non-state agencies targeting the community, there has been a startling rise in such targeted violence in Uttar Pradesh, which faces elections early in 2017, and in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.”
EFIRLC’s report includes detailed and alarming accounts of several other incidents of violence against Christians.
Lal issued the following recommendations in the report:
4Enact a comprehensive hate crimes legislation to safeguard the rights of religious minorities.
4The Ministry of Home Affairs should provide trainings on human rights and religious freedom standards and practices to the state and central police and judiciary.
4Although maintenance of public order is a state responsibility, the central government should issue an advisory to the state governments to repeal the anti-conversion laws.
4The government should ensure an active Commission for Human Rights and Commission for Minorities is operational in every state, and that members of each commission are appointed by transparent and nonpartisan procedures.
4Prevent and pursue, through the judicial process, all violent acts against religious and tribal minorities and Dalits. (MS)
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