The United Christian Forum has documented at least 23 cases of violence against Christians in the past week alone, highlighting a disturbing trend of rising intolerance.
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — A Christian family in Chhattisgarh’s Jagdalpur village suffered an all-out assault earlier this month allegedly orchestrated by Hindutva militants associated with the Bajrang Dal and RSS. The assailants not only seized the family’s fields but also subjected them to physical assault, leaving at least two members unconscious and three others hospitalised. One of those injured in the attack on June 12 has a broken leg, underscoring the severity of the brutality inflicted, media reports reaching here said on Tuesday.
The village of Bade Paruda, located under the jurisdiction of the Badanji police station, has been a flashpoint for religious tensions since 2023, with Christian minorities frequently facing threats and violence from Hindu extremists.
According to a lawyer representing the affected family, they were forcibly evicted from the village and coerced to sign a statement in the presence of local authorities, including the village sarpanch, reports said. The statement mandated that the family must renounce Christianity within ten days if they wish to return; failure to comply would reportedly result in dire consequences, including threats of death, reports said.
The United Christian Forum (UCF), a coalition of Christian organisations advocating for the rights of Christians and other religious minorities in the country, has documented at least 23 cases of violence against Christians in the past week alone, highlighting a disturbing trend of rising intolerance. In the first three months of 2024, nearly 200 hate crimes targeting Christians were reported, with properties vandalized, farm walls demolished, and crops destroyed, leading to substantial financial losses for the affected families.
The victims in the latest attack, identified as Shoba, Chetan, and Savitri among others, were allegedly coerced into renouncing their faith in exchange for permission to cultivate their lands. This coercion escalated into a violent confrontation earlier this month, exacerbating an ongoing conflict that has simmered since 2023.
The June 12 incident unfolded when the Christian villagers attempted to cultivate their land but were confronted by a group affiliated with Bajrang Dal and RSS. The assailants insisted that the land belonged to “village gods” and forbade them from working unless they renounced Christianity. Subsequently, around 9 am, the family members were forcibly dragged out from their home, subjected to brutal beatings, and detained at the Panchayat Bhawan. Shockingly, even minor girls were not spared from this violence and were reportedly arrested by the police.
Reports indicate that in preceding months, similar groups had resorted to burning cornfields in an effort to coerce Christian families into converting to Hinduism. Throughout these troubling events, appeals for assistance from law enforcement reportedly went unanswered, exacerbating the vulnerability of the Christian community to such targeted attacks.
The latest escalation of violence has instilled fear among Christian families in Jagdalpur, prompting many to flee the village in search of safety. An advocacy group’s report from December 2023 highlighted a disturbing trend, noting an increase in incidents of violence against Christians from 505 in 2021 to 687 in 2023, underscoring a deteriorating situation that demands urgent attention and intervention.
