Nine-year-old Indian girl from convert family reported raped, then murdered

Nine-year-old Indian girl from convert family reported raped, then murdered
A nine-year-old girl from an Indian family that had recently converted to Christianity was murdered (and possibly raped before that) on Sunday, 5 August, in Punjab state. The girl was playing with her friends in the city of Gurdaspur, near the Pakistan border, when a 15 year old boy is reported to . . . Read More

Hindu extremist violence on the rise in southern Indian states

Good Fruit Ministries church in Sangameshwar village of Siddhipet District, Telangana state was demolished by a bull dozer on the directions of uppercaste Hindus who follow Vaastu shastra.
Religious freedom advocate ADF India has noted a rise in incidents of religiously motivated violence in India’s two Telugu language-speaking southern states, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, including the brutal murder of an elderly Christian woman. So far this year, ADF India says it has verified 17 incidents of anti-Christian persecution . . . Read More

Indian Christians charged with ‘hurting religious sentiments’ by handing out Easter tracts

Indian Christians charged with 'hurting religious sentiments' by handing out Easter tracts
Four Christians, including the wife of a church leader, have been charged with “hurting religious sentiments” after they handed out Christian tracts during an Easter procession in India’s southern Telangana state. Rayapuri Jyothi, 38, Meena Kumari, 52, Mahima Kumari, 35 and Bagadam Sudhakar, 45, were taken into custody by police . . . Read More

Another Indian state set to pass anti-conversion bill

Another Indian state set to pass anti-conversion bill
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

Indian Christians beaten ‘with rods and sticks’

Indian Christians beaten 'with rods and sticks’
A Christian man involved in church work across ten villages in the southern Indian state of Telangana was severely beaten earlier this month, a source told World Watch Monitor. The victim, known as Pastor Seviya, “was attacked by five Hindu extremists with rods and thick sticks … until he became unconscious”, . . . Read More

Indian evangelist suffers brain haemorrhage after police grilling

Indian evangelist suffers brain haemorrhage after police grilling
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

India: Christian grandmother murdered for ‘disturbing the peace’

India: Christian grandmother murdered for 'disturbing the peace'
Samari Kasabi’s son, Sukura (left), and his family outside their village home in Dokawaya, Chhattisgarh.Courtesy Open Doors International   An Indian grandmother was stripped naked, beaten to death and her body burned, apparently because her Christian faith was “disturbing the peace” in her village. The incident, in the central Indian . . . Read More