Persecution of Christians Escalates Across India

Everyone knows of the persecution in Muslim lands, but how many realise that "peaceful" India is one of the worst offenders? And it's getting worse!

From Crisis

By Jason Jones

Christians across India are facing increasingly frequent and more brutal persecution.

A coordinated campaign by law enforcement officials, Hindu activists, and extremist politicians is deploying draconian anti-conversion laws to systematically target Christians across India, according to a new report published by the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI). 

The EFI report follows national outrage over the arrests of two nuns who were falsely accused of human trafficking and forced conversion. The sisters were released on bail amid revelations that militant Hindus tortured a young girl into making false statements against the nuns.

The sisters’ arrests have triggered a political earthquake, with protests in the national parliament from opposition party politicians and rallies by Christians from all denominations across the country. Bishops and Catholic communities who were cozying up to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been forced to reconsider their political affiliations and voice their opposition to the Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) ideology of the BJP.

Witness Beaten into Testifying Against Nuns

Sr. Preeti Mary and Sr. Vandana Francis, who are from the Syro-Malabar Church in the southern Indian state of Kerala and are serving in the northern Indian state of Chhattisgarh, were freed on August 2, along with a resident, Sukhman Mandavi.

While the court ruled that the charges against the nuns were based on mere suspicion, 21-year-old Kamleshwari Pradhan, one of the three tribal women the sisters are accused of trafficking, revealed she was beaten and coerced by the Bajrang Dal (a militant Hindu outfit) into giving a false statement against the nuns.

Pradhan told The Indian Express she was threatened and assaulted by Jyoti Sharma, a Hindutva activist from the Durga Vahini Matrushakti, to change her statement. The police based their charge sheet on what activists belonging to the Bajrang Dal told them.

“Our family already embraced Christianity some six years ago, so where does the question of forced religious conversion arise?” Pradhan asked. “My mother used to be chronically ill. We took her to a healing meeting, since then, she began recovering. Then we started following the faith.”

The nuns have been charged under the Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion Act and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. The penalty for converting a Hindu to Christianity may extend to three years in prison and a fine of up to 20,000 rupees.

Despite the national outcry, a day after the nuns’ release, Chhattisgarh deputy chief minister Vijay Sharma said that his government is working on a stricter law to curb religious conversion in the state and may bring legislation in this regard in the coming winter session of the assembly.

Persecution is Rampant All Over India

On August 4, the EFI reported that its Religious Liberty Commission had documented 334 incidents between January and July 2025 of Hindutva forces targeting Christians, including arrests, threats, violence, disruption of worship services, and denial of burial rights.

“This sustained pattern of persecution reflects an alarming consistency, with incidents occurring every month and affecting Christian communities across 22 states and union territories,” the report stated. 

The anti-Christian violence is concentrated in the states of Uttar Pradesh (95 incidents) and Chhattisgarh (86 incidents). More than half of all documented cases occurred in these two states, where Christian families face not only “immediate violence” but “prolonged legal harassment under anti-conversion laws.” “The misuse of these laws has become a primary weapon of intimidation, with threats, harassment, and false accusations representing two-thirds of all incidents documented during this period,” the report warned. 

“These 334 documented cases likely represent only a fraction of actual incidents, as many go unreported due to fear of reprisals, intimidation by local authorities, or lack of access to documentation channels,” it added.

Last year, the Vulnerable People Project documented the collusion between India’s Hindu supremacist regime, civil authorities, and militant Hindu organizations who are using the anti-conversion laws to conduct sting operations and trap pastors, evangelists, and lay Christians.

Pastors Face Police Brutality in Custody

In one of the most serious incidents reported by the EFI, around 35 Bajrang Dal activists surrounded Grace Church in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, on July 20 during the afternoon service led by Pastor Abhinav Baksh. The activists shouted derogatory slogans against Christians, demanding action against alleged conversions.

Pastor Moses Logan, who owns the legally built and registered church building, called the police for assistance. However, when police arrived, they apprehended about six pastors who were present at the service and 40 church members at the Jamul police station.

The police refused to file charges against the Hindu assailants. Instead, they detained the six pastors under preventive detention provisions. The pastors were sent then to the area’s Durg jail that evening. While in police custody, prison officials tortured and assaulted five of the pastors with wooden batons after they identified themselves as pastors during routine questioning. 

The pastors, who have visible injuries following the police brutality, were released on bail the following evening. Charges against them remain active, and no action has been taken against the attackers or jail officials despite documented evidence of torture, EFI reported.

The report noted that many incidents of persecution occur on Sundays during or immediately after worship services, indicating that religious gatherings are being closely monitored, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where targeting churches on Sunday is most frequent.

In the latest reported case of false accusations of forced conversion, Pastor Vinod Kerketta was invited on June 13 to a prayer meeting at a birthday celebration hosted by a church member in the north Indian state of Odisha. During the prayer meeting, an unidentified man entered the house and began recording the gathering without permission. He left and returned with a group of Hindu hard-liners who assaulted Pastor Vinod and several female Christians, causing serious injuries. Following the attack, the assailants forcibly took the pastor to the local police station and falsely accused him of engaging in religious conversion.

Vatican Silent on Christian Persecution

In July, Archbishop Anil Couto of Delhi presented a memorandum to the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, urging him to raise the issue of targeted hate crimes against Christians when he met senior political leaders. The Vatican said the aim of Archbishop Gallagher’s visit to India on July 13-19 was “to consolidate and strengthen the bonds of friendship and collaboration between the Holy See and the Republic of India.”

After Gallagher met with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India’s foreign minister, Jaishankar issued a statement that they discussed “the importance of faith and the need for dialogue and diplomacy to address conflicts.”

Seminarians at the Jesuit Vidyajyoti seminary in New Delhi slammed Gallagher for failing to speak up for Indian Christians. One of them labeled Archbishop Gallagher’s visit “Vatican tokenism.” Fr. Cedric Prakash, a renowned Jesuit human rights activist, expressed disappointment over this “Vatican tokenism,” arguing that atrocities against Christians should have been brought up in the discussion with the government.

“Perhaps the all-round silence suits the government,” Catholic lay leader John Dayal told the media after Gallagher’s visit. 

Pictured: Altar of St Augustine's Syro-Malabar Church, Ramapuram, Pala, Kerala, India Diocese of Pala, by Alvintomk - Own work, CC0, Wikimedia Commons