India

Eighteen more pastors were arrested in India’s Uttar Pradesh state last week, on false charges of forcibly converting Hindus to Christianity, CBN News reports.

The International Christian Concern (ICC) aid organization reports that Christians in India’s Uttar Pradesh state are on high alert; emboldened by upcoming state elections, radicalized Hindus have intensified their attacks on believers, imprisoning a greater number of them. 

Radical Hindu nationalists attacked a group of newly Christian believers in India’s Chhattisgarh state recently, causing a number of victims to be rushed to hospital, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, India ranks 11 on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2023 of top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

There have been 525 attacks by Hindu nationalists against Christians across India this year alone, Christian Today (CT) reports. Ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, India ranks 11TH on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2023 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

Bowing to pressure from Hindu extremists, and with no evidence or witnesses, authorities in India’s Uttar Pradesh state charged Pastor Bajarang Rawat with forcibly converting Hindus to Christianity, and jailed him for 23 days before releasing him on bail, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

In a move perceived by local church leaders as hostility toward Christianity, authorities in India’s Madhya Pradesh state have refused to renew the permit of Christian orphanage to receive international charitable funding, the Christian Post (CP) reports.

The tribal Christian Kuki-Zo community in India’s Manipur state continues to face deadly attacks from extremist members of the Hindu majority Meitei community, despite recent military interventions, the Christian Post (CP) reports.

Christians in India’s Madhya Pradesh state say police have issued at least 40 churches with suspicious, discriminatory, questionnaire notices requesting information they believe could be released to Hindu extremists to attack them with, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

Indian Christians have urged prayers after Hindu nationalists stormed a church in Delhi during Sunday prayers, vandalized it, and attacked believers.

Five Christians in India’s Uttar Pradesh state were arrested and charged last week for allegedly trying to convert Hindus to Christianity in violation of the state’s anti-conversion law, Christian Today reports.