Data collected by the United Christian Forum (UCF) recorded a total of 733 incidents of violence in the year 2023 against Christians, an average of 61 incidents per month.
Waquar Hasan | Clarion India
NEW DELHI – Repeated petitions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the National Commission for the Minorities seeking action on hate crimes against Christians have shown no result, said a Delhi-based Christian group.
Stating that a staggering 585 incidents targeting Christians recorded till September this year, the minority group Delhi NCR Christian Fellowship on Thursday said “Data collected by the United Christian Forum (UCF) recorded a total of 733 incidents of violence in the year 2023, against Christians, an average of 61 incidents per month. These numbers do not reflect even one incident from Manipur, where over 200 churches have been burnt and destroyed. Repeated petitions to the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and Minority Commissions for action have shown no result”.
Religious and community leaders of the various Christian denominations in India decided to gather for a mass protest in the national capital on Saturday to “focus attention on targeted violence against them, the incidents of which have been soaring in the last decade”.
The call for the protest was given to highlight the deep anguish within the Christian community on the attacks on church leaders, pastors, nuns, school principals and teachers, doctors and nurses, to name a few. “Most have been arrested or attacked as they were praying within the confines of their churches or institutions. A recent case saw the arrest of four people for celebrating a child’s birthday and distributing cake. The targeted violence and hostility appear to be suspiciously more in states ruled by the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP),” reads the statement.
I Addressing a press conference at the Press Club of India on Thursday community leaders and activists sharply criticised the rising incidents of violence against the members of the Christian community in India.
Noted Christian leader A C Michael pointed out that the hate crimes against his community has been sharply increasing since 2014 when Narendra Modi had become the Prime Minister of India.
“Today, it has become difficult for the Christian community to live in this country. In 2014, there were less than 100 incidents of attacks on Christians. In 2015, 200 incidents were recorded. In 2016, the incidents increased to 300. Then, it rose to 400 and 500. In the last years, around 750 incidents of attacks on Christians were reported. This is a very dangerous development for the country,” said Michael.
He said that they have submitted memorandum to the former and current ministers of minority affairs, the National Commission for the Minorities and all the concerned authorities with regard to this issue. “When we have submitted the files in large volume to the authorities, the minister says that who will be able to read such volume of files. We say this is the detailed account. You should know about these incidents and show it in the parliament. We are submitting all evidences – documentary evidence, video evidence and police record,” said Michael.
The Delhi NCR Christian Fellowship said, a report “Criminalising Practice of Faith” published by Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) documented several cases where police was complicit in offences committed against Christians. It is well established fact that there is correlation between increased targeted violence where anti-conversion laws have been enacted.
The attitude of state agencies, especially the police is totally unacceptable. State police forces shirk their responsibility by dismissing near fatal assaults as ‘land” or “family disputes’ while it was quite clear that the attackers were religious activists.
