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India

• House Churches Under Surveillance to Prevent Worship

  

  Police in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu have put several house churches under surveillance in an effort to prevent their use for Christian worship. House church congregations in several villages were warned to stop meeting altogether. Pastors of these small gatherings have been harassed and ordered to get permission from district officials in order to conduct prayer services.

• Police Shut Down Outdoor Worship Services

  

  Police broke up a worship gathering of approximately 6,000 Christians on October 15th after Hindu militants accused the pastor of insulting other religions, possession of arms, and forcible conversions. According to Pastor Santosh Jaiswal, the congregation scattered when police arrived with demands that the service cease.

  The officers investigating the allegations were unable to find any evidence against the pastor but ordered that Pastor Santosh stop the worship services. According to police, an eyewitness had seen people claiming to be healed and others lifting their hands in prayer, interpreting what was happening as black magic.

• Pastor's Family Forced into Hiding

  

  A retired pastor and his family in northern India have been badly beaten and forced into hiding after police recently sided with their attackers. Patram Mangala helps with a Christian school in Sohna, Haryana state.

  Patram and his wife were working in their front yard on September 22nd when a group of Hindu militants approached and began assaulting them. Patram was hit in the face with a spade. His wife sustained internal injuries, as well as a blow to her face. Their son Abhishek lost four front teeth and sustained injury to one eye, while their other son Raj received internal injuries.

• New Anti-Conversion Legislation

  

  The Indian state of Himachal Pradesh passed new legislation on August 30th to prevent any religious conversion that may come about through force, fraud or inducement. According to the new law, when someone intends to convert to a religion, they must give the district magistrate and appropriate religious leaders one month's notice. Those found guilty of converting others under the new law could face up to seven years in prison.

• Released After Ten Years

  

  Bijaya Kumar Sanaseth was convicted of the murder of a popular Hindu swami in 2008, along with six other Christians. The conviction came despite claims of responsibility by Maoist rebels. In a July 27th decision, India's Supreme Court ordered Bijaya's release, just months after another one of the accused believers, Gornath Chalanseth, was likewise freed on bail. (See the previously posted report.)

• Pastor Dragged from Meeting and Beaten

  

  A home prayer meeting was disrupted by Hindu nationalists in the Kanshiram Colony of Uttar Pradesh on July 28th. As some men and women were walking to the meeting, nationalists who recognized them as Christians began to physically and verbally assault them. When they arrived at the home where the prayer meeting was taking place, the harassment continued.

• Christians Forced to Reconvert

  

  Christians who had been worshipping privately in their homes were dragged before local village leaders and forced to participate in a "reconversion" rite on June 14th. The action follows a pronouncement two days earlier that 12 Christian families in Mahuatoli would be banished if they did not return to the tribal Sarna religion. As a result of the threats, most have fled the village.

  According to an area pastor, threats are common in the Gumla District of Jharkhand, where Hindu militants have joined together with tribalists to revolt against the growth of Christianity. In this instance, a mob of 20 villagers broke into the home of Jogiya Munda, forcing him and his widowed mother to bow before an idol. Buckets of water were poured on them to symbolize the purification rite.

• Released After Ten Years!

  

  When the popular Hindu swami (religious leader), Lakshmanananda Saraswati, was killed in August 2008, Maoist rebels claimed responsibility for the attack. Despite this claim, Hindu militants turned their anger towards the Christians of Odisha state (then known as Orissa). Riots exploded, particularly in the Kandhamal district. Hundreds of Christians were massacred, thousands were forced to flee for refugee camps, and an estimated 1,400 homes -- along with at least 90 churches and numerous businesses -- were destroyed. In the months that followed, The Voice of the Martyrs Canada provided needed relief aid, along with long-term support for the many surviving children of those who had been killed.

• Election Results Raise Concerns for Christians

  

  As more than 600 million citizens cast their ballots in the Indian general election, Christians and members of other religious minorities had added concerns about the outcome. Those concerns were realized after the results came in, for the Hindu-nationalist BJP party captured 303 of the 543 eligible seats. No other party had secured the minimum ten percent of seats required to gain official party standing.

• Christians Forced to Burn Bibles

  

  A prayer meeting that took place at a home in the state of Tamil Nadu was disrupted on March 19th by a mob affiliated with Hindu nationalist movements. The intruders demanded to know what was happening and then dragged those participating onto the street.

  Neethiraj, a missionary with the India Evangelical Mission, had been visiting the home of a student in the city of Hosur to pray for a sick youth. As part of the incident, Neethiraj's bag, which contained Christian tracts, was emptied on the street. The attackers then gathered Bibles and hymnals from the home and forced the missionary to set them on fire.