A Christian worker is in jail in Indore, in the north-central state of Madhya Pradesh, after authorities arrested him on October 7 for “converting young children from poor Hindu families to Christianity.”
Radical Hindus of Jamanya village, in Maharashtra state’s Jalgaon district, remain hostile to Christian families who were attacked on May 16 – threatening to beat them if they refuse to renounce their faith, detaining and beating a Christian visitor, and attacking the house of another believer.
Hindu extremists on September 22 attacked and threatened several Christians in the Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh state, accusing them of desecrating a Hindu idol.
Impoverished native missionaries in Mumbai, the capital of India’s Maharashtra state, were reportedly still homeless Friday, September 16, more than a month after their possessions were swept away in record flooding there, which killed over 1000 people.
The state government of Rajasthan, ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), plans to present an anti-conversion bill to the state assembly during its next session, beginning on September 26.
A mob of Hindu extremists surrounded a mission compound in India’s Bihar state on August 31 and kept it under siege for three days. The mob attempted to kill the Rev. Augustine Jebakumar, director of the mission, and demanded his arrest for allegedly desecrating a Hindu idol.
Police picked up two Christians attending a worship service at the home of Jagdish and Grace Nayak in Indore, Madhya Pradesh state, on September 4 and detained them for four hours. A Hindu mob also threatened Atul David and Antar Singh with death if they worshiped with the Nayaks again.
A mob of Hindu extremists violently attacked a prayer meeting in the town of Indore in the north-central state of Madhya Pradesh on August 21. At least 10 people, including women and a 2-year-old child, were injured.
Attempts to strengthen the state anti-conversion law in Chattisgarh state, India, have been held up due to “technical problems,” according to a government official.
Hindu extremists violently attacked a prayer meeting in Rajasthan state last night, seriously injuring nine Christians, including one woman.
Two Christian men of a non-governmental organization in Bangladesh have been “hacked to death” and officials believe Islamic extremists were “likely” responsible for the murders, news reports said Thursday, August 4.
Sources have confirmed the murder by beheading on March 8 of Dulal Sarkar, a lay pastor and evangelist in Bangladesh.
The Sri Lankan government will cast a deciding vote on anti-conversion legislation in April, despite sharp criticism of the “Act for the Protection of Religious Freedom.”
Hindu extremists have violently assaulted several Christians in Rajasthan, India, over the past two weeks. Local observers say the attacks are a strategy to push forward the enactment of anti-conversion laws in the state.
A Hindu fundamentalist group has accused a Christian school in Sukma district, Chhattisgarh, of forcibly distributing copies of the New Testament to students with intent to convert them.
Hindu villagers have constructed a temple on the grounds of St. John’s Church of England in Jatni in the eastern state of Orissa, India, triggering a knotty battle over the rights of minority Christians.
Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka have declared a “fast unto death” beginning December 12 if the government does not concede to a proposed constitutional amendment and the adoption of anti-conversion laws.
In an arbitrary verdict handed down last week by a Saudi Arabian court, Christian prisoner Brian O’Connor was convicted of the alleged possession and sale of alcohol in the strictly Muslim kingdom.
Protestant ministers in the United States generally believe that religious persecution is a major problem in today’s world, and they believe the U.S. should impose sanctions against countries where this is occurring. These findings have just been released from a research study conducted among Protestant clergy in America.
Six people were arrested on May 3 in connection with a February 10 incident regarding residents of a village in Orissa state, India, shaving the heads of a local pastor and eight Christian women in an effort to publicly mark them as Hindu converts.