Tag: Odisha

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

India: Six Christians injured following Hindu attack over baby’s burial

March 5, 2018 India Children, Elections, Hindu nationalism, India, Minorities, Odisha, Women

One of the victims of the attack on Christian families in Odisha that left some critically injured. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Six Christians were badly injured and a house torched in an attack by Hindu extremists in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, following the death and burial of a Christian baby. The incident occurred on 27 February in Tangaguda, a town in Malkangiri District, where three Christian families live alongside . . . Read More

India: Kandhamal victims wait, a year on, for government to obey Supreme Court

October 26, 2017 India Dalits, Hindu nationalism, India, Kandhamal, Odisha

In northeast India, local Christian leaders are calling on the Odisha state government to enforce a Supreme Court ruling that the compensation paid to victims of the 2008 Kandhamal violence, which left about 100 Christians dead, was “not enough”, reports Asia News. The August 2016 ruling ordered that Odisha should . . . Read More

India: ‘Kandhamal seven’ appeal hearings postponed

October 16, 2017 India Hindu nationalism, India, Kandhamal, Maoists, Odisha

Seven “innocent” Christians serving prison sentences for the 2008 murder of a Hindu leader in India’s eastern Odisha state have had their appeal hearings “once again” postponed, according to a Catholic journalist campaigning for their release. The seven men, who are from the Kandhamal district of Odisha, were convicted in . . . Read More

Jharkhand the latest Indian state to pass ‘anti-conversion bill’

August 15, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, India, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Protestants, Ram Nath Kovind

The Indian state of Jharkhand passed an “anti-conversion bill” at its Assembly meeting on 12 August, despite demands that the bill should be sent to a select committee for further scrutiny. “This is not normal,” Indian journalist Anto Akkara told World Watch Monitor. “It shows the growing arrogance of the . . . Read More

India: another state expected to pass ‘anti-conversion law’

August 3, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, Chhattisgarh, Dalits, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Protestants

The north-east Indian state of Jharkhand has cleared the draft of an “anti-conversion bill” that could mean four-year prison sentences and 100,000 rupee fines (US$1,500) for those found to have forced another person to change religions, reports The New Indian Express. If what has been dubbed the “Religious Freedom Bill . . . Read More

Uncertain future for Indian Christians after BJP’s election victories

March 22, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Catholics, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand

India’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to have consolidated its political position across India after the party won several state elections. These were held in February and March; after results were counted in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur, it had secured a comfortable majority in India’s most populous . . . Read More

Indian evangelist suffers brain haemorrhage after police grilling

January 24, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Hyderabad, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi, Odisha, Telangana, Vishva Hindu Parishad

K.A. Swamy.World Watch Monitor An Indian Christian has suffered a brain haemorrhage after he was interrogated by police about his role in distributing Bibles and other Christian literature in the city where he works as a professor of engineering. K.A. Swamy, 47, was marched to the police station at . . . Read More

UPDATE: Compensation for family of Indian Christian couple shot dead in anti-Maoist crossfire

January 6, 2017 India Hindu nationalism, Hyderabad, Kandhamal, Maoists, Odisha, Police

Update 6 Jan. 2017: The Human Rights Commission of the eastern Indian state of Odisha has ordered the state government to pay one million rupees (US$14,720) in compensation to the six children of a Baptist couple shot dead allegedly by a federal paramilitary force in July 2015. Dhubaleswar Nayak, 50, and . . . Read More

India: Kerala chief minister calls for fresh probe into Kandhamal deaths

December 16, 2016 India Dalits, Hindu nationalism, Kandhamal, Odisha

The chief minister of the south Indian state of Kerala has called for a fresh probe into the 2008 murder of a Hindu leader, which sparked months of rioting, in which almost 100 Christians were killed. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was speaking on Tuesday (13 Dec.) at the launch of . . . Read More

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