A letter from United Christian Forum also draws drawn attention to a sharp and alarming rise in targeted violence and hostility against Christians across India
NEW DELHI — The United Christian Forum (UCF), a leading national Christian body, has sent an SOS to Union Home Minister Amit Shah urging the immediate cancellation of a proposed “Chhattisgarh Bandh” scheduled for December 24. The bandh call has been given by Hindutva groups. The forum has also drawn attention to what it describes as a sharp and alarming rise in targeted violence and hostility against Christians across India.
In a letter addressed to the Home Minister, UCF National Coordinator A C Michael said the Christian community is facing “systematic persecution,” largely driven by allegations of fraudulent religious conversions. Citing data compiled by the forum, he noted that 834 incidents of violence against Christians were recorded in 2024, averaging nearly 70 incidents a month. As of November 2025, the number of such incidents had already reached 706.
According to the UCF, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have emerged as the worst-affected states, with 184 and 157 incidents respectively reported till November this year. The forum alleged that a majority of these attacks are linked to complaints filed under state anti-conversion laws, often by third parties or extremist groups rather than by alleged victims themselves.
The letter also refers to findings by civil liberties organisations, including a report by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), which claims that police frequently fail to act against perpetrators and, in some cases, collude with right-wing groups. Prayer meetings are allegedly disrupted, and criminal provisions invoked to intimidate and harass members of the Christian community.
A significant portion of the letter documents incidents from tribal regions, where Christians are reportedly being denied burial rights. The UCF recorded 23 burial-related incidents in 2025 alone, most of them in Chhattisgarh. These incidents include bodies being exhumed, families being threatened, and mobs forcing religious renunciation as a condition for allowing burials.
Among the cases cited is a December 15, 2025 incident in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district, where a mob allegedly attempted to exhume the body of a Christian man buried on private land, claiming religious grounds. Other cases from Chhattisgarh and Odisha describe bodies being denied burial for days, assaults on grieving family members, and forced exhumation and destruction of remains.
The forum also flagged what it termed the misuse of anti-conversion laws in 12 states. Referring to legal analyses, including one by the digital news platform Article 14, the UCF said a majority of FIRs under these laws are registered on third-party complaints, undermining constitutional guarantees of religious freedom. The letter also cites Supreme Court observations that peaceful religious gatherings and charitable activities cannot be criminalised, and that criminal law should not be used as a tool of harassment.
Expressing deep concern over calls by certain groups for a state-wide bandh in Chhattisgarh on December 24 to protest against Christians, the UCF warned that targeting an entire religious community could seriously damage social harmony and create an atmosphere of fear, particularly during the Christmas period. Since the BJP came to power in the tribal-dominated state, attacks on the members of Christian community have increased manifold.
The forum has urged the Union Home Ministry to cancel the proposed bandh, issue advisories to state governments, provide human rights and religious freedom training to the police and judiciary, review and repeal anti-conversion laws, strengthen human rights and minority commissions, and ensure adequate compensation for victims of religious violence.
Calling the situation “grave,” the UCF appealed for swift and decisive action to ensure that Christians can practice their faith without fear and that constitutional guarantees of equality and freedom of religion are upheld.
