Persecution of India’s Christians continues unabated

A 25-year-old woman was murdered in India’s eastern state of Jharkhand this month just days after a young man was slain for embracing Christianity. It was the fifth such violent killing of a Christian in the South Asian nation within 90 days.

The dead body of Suman Munda of Redhadi village in Kunti district was found July 19. Her death followed six years of harassment from local hard-line Hindus after she converted to Christianity.

Her murder and the June 24 killing of Ramji Munda, 27, from the same district, prompted Bishop Binay Kandulna of Khunti to appeal to the authorities to bring the culprits to justice.

Christians say the killings are a sign of the times with believers being attacked, ostracized and their places of worship vandalized or torched.

With several states adopting anti-conversion laws, fringe elements of the ruling Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have allegedly stepped up attacks against Christians who they allege have been participating in forced conversions. Ever since the BJP came into power in 2014, attacks on Christians have increased.

Hard-line Hindu groups are angered by the growing number of conversions by the Dalits or so-called untouchables to Christianity. Most often such people convert to avoid being discriminated against, according to a report by the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI).

A file image of a Christian Adivasi woman (Kuvi Kondh tribe) in front of her house in Upper Bombu, Odisha, India on Nov. 30, 2016 (shutterstock.com photo)

A file image of a Christian Adivasi woman (Kuvi Kondh tribe) in front of her house in Upper Bombu, Odisha, India on Nov. 30, 2016 (shutterstock.com photo)

Policewomen keeping watch as Indian Christians demonstrate outside the Sacred Heart Cathedral following attacks on churches in New Delhi on Feb. 5, 2015

A file image of policewomen keeping watch as Indian Christians demonstrate outside the Sacred Heart Cathedral following attacks on churches in New Delhi on Feb. 5, 2015. Minority Christians says they feel insecure under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government which came to power in 2014. (Photo by Sajjad Hussain/AFP)

In the first half of this year, Persecution Relief, an ecumenical body, recorded 293 cases of Christian persecution and three deaths. Two others were slain in July.

In June alone, a total of 17 incidents were reported. The central state of Chhattisgarh took the lead with five incidents followed by Jharkhand where three incidents were reported while seven other states recorded two and one incident each.

The month also witnessed the most gruesome murder of young Samaru Madkami in eastern Odisha’s Malkangiri district. The 14-year old was allegedly hacked to pieces by Hindu zealots.

According to people from his community, Samaru Madkami, 14, was martyred for his faith. (Photo courtesy Pastor Bijay Pusuru)

According to people from his community, Samaru Madkami, 14, was martyred for his faith. (Photo courtesy Pastor Bijay Pusuru)

Local pastor Bijay Pusuru said on June 4 night some villagers and religious fanatics attempted to kidnap three Christians. Two Christians who were stronger and older than the victim managed to escape but Madkami, a seventh-grade student, was killed and his remains buried.

Madkami, who along with the family converted three years ago to Christianity, used to serve in the Bethel House Church.

Pusuru said Christians in the village have faced many threats and are continually harassed by Hindu hardliners.

He made many complaints to police but no avail while adding that even though the state is not ruled by BJP, the member of the Legislative Assembly of Malkangiri district where the incident occurred, and the local area president are from the BJP.

Persecution Relief recorded 22 cases of Christian persecution in Odisha in 2019 and eight cases this year, said Shibu Thomas, its chief.

The other three deaths were reported from Chhattisgarh, Odisha and the western state of Maharashtra.

On May 25, Bijaya Mandavi, 38, was found dead in the jungle near Baddi village in Kondagaon district of Chhattisgarh state.

A week later Samaru Madkami, 14, was allegedly killed by Hindu hardliners on June 4 in Kenduguda village in Malkangiri district in Odisha.

Pastor Munsi DeoTando from Gadchiroli in Maharashtra was shot dead, allegedly by Maoist rebels on July 10.

Christian pastor Munsi Deo Tando with his wife and their three children. Munsi was allegedly murdered by Maoist militants on July 10. (Photo supplied)

Christian pastor Munsi Deo Tando with his wife and their three children. Munsi was allegedly murdered by Maoist militants on July 10. (Photo supplied)

Of late the persecutors have also started forcing Christians to pay homage to Hindu deities and they have been installing idols in Christian places of worship.

At a recent incident at Faridabad city in the northern state of Haryana, they brought the idol of a Hindu deity and installed it at an education center belonging to Grace Assembly of God Church, at Dayalnagar, Faridabad, near Delhi, India’s capital.

The idol of the Hindu monkey god known as Bajrangbali inside the Grace Assembly of God Church which was undergoing renovations. (Photo supplied)

The idol of the Hindu monkey god known as Bajrangbali inside the Grace Assembly of God Church which was undergoing renovations. (Photo supplied)

Pastor Varun Malik was having the renovated when on June 21 some a group of men came and installed a Hindu idol in the room where prayers are conducted on Fridays. The men claimed that the place was a Hindu temple, said Pastor Udai Pillai. The men also broke the center’s gate and a wall.

“So, we called up the police. When that did not work, we approached higher authorities and then the police got the idol removed,” Pillai added.

The matter is now in court, said Pillai, who converted from Hinduism.

An image of the funeral for Christian pastor Munsi Deo Tando on July 12. (Photo supplied)

Pastor Sunita Mourya lives in the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh which is led by controversial Yogi Adityanath a Hindu monk famed for Christian bashing.

“I have faced many struggles ever since I started this ministry at my village,” she said. “My husband left me. I was alone with three children, but my faith in God sustained me.”

She said on July 4, a Hindu hardliner attacked her house church in a village at Dasmada in Azamgarh, a district in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Mourya said she was not home when they attacked. The mob vandalized her house and beat up some believers. A fellow pastor, Vikash Kumar Gupta, who assists her just managed to save himself and call the police.

Pastor Sunita Mourya (in middle) with fellow Christians including Vikash Kumar Gupta (far right) who was beaten by a mob and paraded in a village market. (Photo supplied)

Pastor Sunita Mourya (in middle) with fellow Christians including Vikash Kumar Gupta (far right) who was beaten by a mob and paraded in a village market. (Photo supplied)

A day before the incident occurred, Mourya said: “The miscreants forced Gupta, two sisters and two other men and me to get onto a bus that was heading to their village.”

“The fanatics took us to their village temple and asked us to bow down to the idols and worship their gods, but we refused,” she said.

The hardliners threatened to kill anyone who was seen anywhere in or near their village.

Mourya has since fled with her children to a safer distant place in Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Pastor Sunita Mourya with a church elder, her daughters Soni and Khushboo and her son Dharmendra. (Photo supplied)

Pastor Sunita Mourya with a church elder, her daughters Soni and Khushboo and her son Dharmendra. (Photo supplied)

A church in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India as seen on May 14. (shutterstock.com photo)

Most incidents occurred in Uttar Pradesh (109), for the third year running in 2019. The Christian minority — 0.18 percent of the state’s population according to the census of 2011 — is a target of increasing violence.

Threats, harassment, and intimidation were the most common forms of all reported incidents (199) last year, followed by church attacks (104), physical violence (85), and arrest (52).

Seventeen incidents involved arson attacks on churches, and four involved murder, reported Persecution Relief.

Locals arrive for Mass at the church in Chunakhali village, West Bengal, Feb. 26. (shutterstock.com photo)

Locals arrive for Mass at the church in Chunakhali village, West Bengal, Feb. 26. (shutterstock.com photo)

The latest annual report from the EFI listed 366 incidents where Christians were targeted in 2019. In the first two months of 2020, the EFI recorded more than 40 attacks against Christians.

Persecution Relief recorded 527 cases of Christian persecution in 2019 compared to 447 in 2018, 440 in 2017, and 330 in 2016.

The United Christian Forum, another organization that tracks attacks on Indian Christians, puts the number of incidents to 121 in the first six months of 2020.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom ranked India's persecution severity at “Tier 2” along with Iraq and Afghanistan. Open Doors' World Watch List, a UK-US based monitoring group, ranks India 10th just behind Iran in persecution severity.

Published July 28, 2020