India Christians Reeling From Attacks (Worthy News Focus)

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By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

NEW DELHI (Worthy News) – Nearly 400 Christian leaders and 30 church groups have urged India’s government to defend the Christian minority after hundreds of attacks against Christians, including more than a dozen around Christmas.

In a letter to Indian President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, they noted that the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), the nation’s body of evangelical churches, recorded more than 720 incidents targeting Christians until mid-December last year, while the United Christian Forum (UCF) group noticed 760 incidents until the end of November 2024.

At least 14 attacks against Christian gatherings were also reported during the 2024 Christmas season in the mainly Hindu nation, where Christians comprise roughly 2.3 percent of the total population of nearly 1.5 billion people, Worthy News learned Friday.

One of the most violent incidents during the Christmas season involved two women and a man who were severely beaten in the Indian state of Odisha for alleged “conversion” activities, Christians told Worthy News.

The women were then tied to a tree and forced to chant the names of Hindu gods, according to witnesses.

One of the victims, Subhasini Singh, 40, said in published remarks that the troubles began after she was meeting at the home of Gobinda Singh for a Christmas lunch with five other families in the Chhankhanpur village of Balasore District in Odisha state on December 26.

Five Hindu nationalists reportedly interrupted the gathering, accusing them of “forced conversion.” They started to damage the house and assaulted Gobinda Singh, his wife, and teenage daughter, said Pastor Singh of New Living Church in the Nilagiri area of Balasore.

CHRISTMAS CAKE SMEARING

The mob then attacked Subhasini Singh, first smearing a Christmas cake across her face and then beating her, she told Morning Star News, a Christian news agency.

As villagers stood watching, the assailants also beat Gobinda Singh’s sister Sukanti Singh and her husband with shoes, sandals, slaps, and fists, as well as kicking them, Subhasini Singh said.

“They kicked me between my legs at least three times and landed several blows on my chest, legs, face, knees, and my head,” Subhasini Singh said in published remarks.

Still beating her, the men dragged Subhasini Singh into a room, where she lost consciousness from the assault, she said. When she regained consciousness, she found herself naked.

“Last I remember was that three men were beating me in the room,” she explained. “When I regained consciousness, I was being dragged out of the room naked by some women.”

Worthy News, in general, does not name victims of sexual abuse unless they voluntarily come forward publicly, which appeared to be the case.

Subhasini Singh screamed, and a girl came and threw her clothes at her, she said.

PLEADING TO WOMEN

“I pleaded to the women to allow me to wear my blouse and saree before they drag me outside the house and make a public show of me,” she recalled. “I was in pain from head to toe. My private parts were also hurting. I couldn’t say then if I went through something horrifying while I was unconscious.”

Sukanti Singh and her husband, also Christians, were severely assaulted. According to Christians, Subhasini Singh said that after she put on her clothes, the mob then tied her and Sukanti Singh to a tree and continued hitting them, hanging a picture of Christ on the tree above their heads.

Videos on social media seemed to confirm that both women were tied to a tree, forcing them to chant “Jai Shri Ram [Hail, lord Rama].”

Other footage showed the beating Subhasini Singh suffered. Her accusers were also shown ordering Sukanti Singh and her husband to hit Subhasini Singh or else they would assault them instead.

“They forced Sukanti and her husband to hit me, and they both did,” Subhasini Singh said, adding that she lost consciousness three times from the beatings.

The video showed Sukanti Singh’s husband with clothes torn as he was severely injured from the assault.

“They kicked me between my legs at least three times and landed several blows on my chest, legs, face, knees, and my head,” Subhasini Singh added.

BEATING WOMAN

Still beating her, the men dragged Subhasini Singh into a room, where she lost consciousness from the assault, she said. When she regained consciousness, she found herself naked.

“Last I remember was that three men were beating me in the room,” she said in a shaky voice. “When I regained consciousness, I was being dragged out of the room naked by some women.”

Subhasini Singh screamed, and a girl came and threw her clothes at her, she said.

“I pleaded to the women to allow me to wear my blouse and saree before they drag me outside the house and make a public show of me,” she said, sobbing.

Bishop Pallab Lima, general secretary of the minority cell of Biju Janata Dal, a national political party, said that “if police had not intervened timely, the men would have burned Subhasini alive.”

Besides these attacks, anti-Christian violence also occurred in at least ten states across India, often instigated by Hindu nationalist groups in their determination to rid the nation of Christian influence, Christians said.

“While the southern state of Kerala is generally known for its communal harmony, right-wing activists attacked a government-operated school in Palakkad during the Christmas celebrations, leading to widespread protests.

PASTOR ATTACKED

Elsewhere in Kerala, “a manger scene was destroyed,” observed advocacy group Voice Of the Martyrs Canada (VOMC).

Elsewhere, “In Punjab, a Pentecostal pastor had been attacked for allegedly attempting to convert Hindus. In Rajasthan, teachers and students in schools celebrating Christmas were also assaulted.

Additionally, in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, protestors barged into a house where Christians had gathered for worship and demanded that the believers stop the service,” VOMC told Worthy News.

Other recent incidents reportedly perpetrated by Hindu militants included “harassing a food delivery employee who was dressed as Santa Claus, destroying a statue of Mary (the mother of Jesus), and chanting loudly to drown out the sounds associated with Christmas festivities,” VOMC added.

“In multiple cases across the nation, worship gatherings were also disrupted by protestors,” VOMC observed.

The group said that it had urged Christians to “Pray that appropriate action will be taken by India’s governing leaders to quell the divisive demands of violent nationalist groups and establish lasting sectarian harmony.”

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