Tag: Madhya Pradesh

India: Eight Christians acquitted of kidnapping and forced conversion

February 21, 2020 India Anti-conversion law, Children, India, Madhya Pradesh

The eight Christians were arrested while travelling with the children on a train. (Photo: Getty Images)

Two and a half years after they were arrested, an Indian court has acquitted eight Christians accused of kidnapping and forced conversion of 60 children, reports the Catholic news site UCAN. Their case was dismissed 18 February by the criminal court in Ratlam in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. . . . Read More

‘Situation for India’s religious minorities is at tipping point’ – report

February 12, 2019 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Hindutva, India, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Minorities, Narendra Modi, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh

The report shows that since Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014, the number of violent acts against India's religious minorities have increased (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A report by a religious freedom watchdog shows a dramatic increase in the number of attacks on Christians and Muslims in India in the last four years and “the situation … is at a tipping point”. The number of reported incidents in the first three months of 2018 was greater . . . Read More

India: Life sentence for top politician gives hope for justice for Kandhamal Christians

December 21, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, Christmas, India, Jharkhand, Kandhamal, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities, Odisha, Tamil Nadu

Rights activists say the lifetime prison sentence given to a top politician in India on 17 December for his involvement in the riots that led to the killing of thousands of Sikhs in 1984, gives hope to India’s Christian minority still waiting for justice, reports Matters India. The High Court . . . Read More

Indian Christians heave sighs of relief as Hindu nationalists lose elections in key states

December 12, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Christmas, Delhi, Elections, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities, Police, Rajasthan

Christians can heave sighs of relief as the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP has been thrown out of power in three key states in central India that have reported dozens of incidents of anti-Christian violence and harassment. The BJP, which had enjoyed unstinted power in two of the states – Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh – for 15 . . . Read More

India: Christians’ names missing from electoral lists

November 30, 2018 India Bangalore, Bhopal, BJP, Hindu nationalism, India, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi

Hundreds of Christians in India’s Madhya Pradesh state found their names missing from the lists of voters in elections for the State Assembly on 28 November, AsiaNews reports. One of them was the Bishop of Bhopal, Leo Cornelio, who told AsiaNews that after waiting at the polling station for 45 . . . Read More

Modi speaks out against ‘menace’ of mob attacks for first time

August 15, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, Bajrang Dal, Bihar, BJP, Dalits, Ghar Wapsi, India, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities, Narendra Modi, Pentecostals, RSS, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Attacks on Christians in India by Hindu extremists are on the increase and often their church buildings are destroyed as well, like this one in central India.

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi has for the first time condemned violence against minorities, saying that everyone has a duty to fight the “menace” of mob lynchings. But his critics say that, after four years in power at the head of a Hindu nationalist government, the comments have come too . . . Read More

Indian Christians threatened, images of Pope trampled on

May 31, 2018 India Bhopal, BJP, Delhi, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi, Pope Francis

Hindu leader Om Swami Maharaj (with microphone) accuses Indian Christians of promoting terrorism and Maoism and demands they leave India. (Photo: still taken from video)

A controversial Hindu leader has called for Christians to leave India in a video that shows a group stomping on images of Pope Francis. The video, posted on 26 May, shows Om Swami Maharaj and a group of around 20 people carrying placards and banners with pictures of Pope Francis, . . . 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

Anger as Hindu religious leaders given ministerial status

April 12, 2018 India BJP, Hindu nationalism, India, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities

Christian and Muslim leaders have voiced concerns after five Hindu religious leaders were accorded “minister of state” status by the nationalist BJP (Bharatiya Janarta Party) government in India’s Madhya Pradesh state, Catholic news agency UCAN reported. Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan told journalists that the move was aimed at the “attempts . . . Read More

India: police leave Catholic hospital separated from power supply after attack

March 23, 2018 India BJP, Catholics, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Police, Ujjain

Police guarding a Catholic hospital in central India that was attacked by a Hindu nationalist mob are restricting staff access to its emergency generator. The last members of the 100-strong mob that attacked Pushpa Mission Hospital in Ujjain city, Madhya Pradesh, left the site following a 16 March court order . . . Read More

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