Tag: Jharkhand

India: 15 Christians accused of ‘conversion’ in Jharkhand

June 7, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Catholics, Constitution, Goa, India, Jharkhand, RSS, Uttarakhand, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Seven Indian states have an “anti-conversion law”; the Hindu nationalist BJP is the ruling party in six of them. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Police in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand have arrested four and are investigating 11 other Christians on charges of conversion, reported Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). The arrest of the four in the village of Podkher, Simdega district, on 29 May is the first reported case since Jharkhand introduced anti-conversion . . . Read More

Tributes paid to Indian pastor beheaded by suspected Maoists

May 2, 2018 India India, Jharkhand, Maoists

The body of a pastor was found beheaded on the shore of a reservoir in eastern India this morning (2 May), hours after he was abducted by around 25 masked men whom police believe to be Maoists. Residents of Kubasal village, in the Tamar area of Jharkhand state, identified the . . . Read More

India: Uttarakhand becomes 7th state to pass ‘anti-conversion law’

May 2, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, Arunachal Pradesh, BJP, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, India, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand

The northern state of Uttarakhand has become the seventh state in India to adopt a so-called “anti-conversion law”. State Governor Krishna Kant Paul signed the ‘Freedom of Religion Bill’ into law on 18 April, just over a month after the bill was approved by the state assembly and allowed to . . . Read More

Another Indian state set to pass anti-conversion bill

March 21, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand

The northern Indian state of Uttarakhand is the latest to approve a so-called “anti-conversion bill”, reports India’s Hindustan Times. If the legislation passes into law at the state assembly later this month Uttarakhand will join Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Jharkhand in having anti-conversion laws. Rajasthan, Arunachal . . . Read More

‘Unprecedented’ persecution of Egypt’s Christians heads 2018 World Watch List

January 10, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Anti-conversion law, Boko Haram, Cairo, Central Asia, Churches, Converts, Copts, Egypt, Eritrea, Fulani herdsmen, Hindu nationalism, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Jharkhand, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Marawi, Middle Belt, Middle East, Mindanao, Minorities, Nepal, Nigeria, North Korea, Philippines, Somalia, Southeast Asia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Upper Egypt

More Christians abused in India than in all other countries combined; Nepal enters list Islamic extremists driven out of Iraq and Syria are behind a new intensity of Christian persecution in surrounding countries, says global charity Open Doors in its latest annual survey of countries where it is most difficult . . . Read More

India: ‘pressure from right-wing Hindus’ forced closure of Catholic children’s hostel

September 20, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, Hindu nationalism, India, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh

A children’s hostel owned by the Catholic Church has been closed down by the government in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. A priest told Matters India that it was because the authorities are “under mounting pressure from right-wing Hindu groups”. The hostel, in the western district of Guna, allowed . . . Read More

India: senior Church leaders call on Modi to help ‘control ideological hatred’ in Jharkhand

September 15, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Dalits, Himachal Pradesh, India, Jharkhand, Narendra Modi, Ram Nath Kovind, RSS

Hindu radicals burn a dummy replica of local Jharkhand Archbishop, Cardinal Telephore Toppo of Ranchi. (Photo: Catholic Bishops' Conference of India)

In a strongly worded open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) called on him to intervene and “curb the spread of hate created by the BJP chief minister” of Jharkhand state. The letter follows the burning of a dummy replica of local Jharkhand . . . Read More

India: two Christian women accused of ‘forced conversions’

September 11, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, Hindu nationalism, India, Jharkhand, Karnataka

Two Christian women in the southwestern Indian state of Karnataka have been escorted to a police station by Hindu activists, who accused them of trying to convert other women, despite there being no complaints from the women themselves, reports Asia News. According to the activists, the two women – known . . . Read More

India: cautious response to appointment of first Christian to Modi’s cabinet

September 6, 2017 India Alphons Kannanthanam, Anti-conversion law, BJP, Catholics, India, Jharkhand, Kerala, Narendra Modi

Alphons Kannanthanam was sworn in on 3 September at the Presidential Palace in New Del

Church officials in India’s Christian heartland of Kerala are cautiously optimistic following the appointment of a first Christian MP to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, amid heated political debate. Modi’s past three years at the head of a Hindu nationalist government (the BJP) have seen a rise in radical extremism . . . Read More

Indian pastor, assistant, wife and other women beaten up by Hindu extremists in Rajasthan

September 1, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, Bajrang Dal, India, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, RSS

Pastor Harjot Sethi in a still taken from the video he posted on YouTube after he was beaten by militant Hindu extremists.

An Indian pastor was among those injured when about 50 Hindu extremists attacked a group of Christians holding a prayer meeting in one of their homes in Dabli Rathan, Rajasthan state, on 16 August. From his hospital bed, pastor Harjot Sethi told Global Christian News that extremists belonging to two . . . Read More

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