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The month of October has seen varied attacks against Christians. Parts of India has witnessed rise in persecution incidents during the last week of October. Houses of Christian families were burnt, hate speeches went viral, false allegations of converting people against Christian believers, foreign nationals were wrongly accused of carrying out religious pursuit.
More than 8 Christian families dwelling in a slum area had gone to attend a church service, when out of nowhere, their houses caught on fire. The other believer families who were present in their homes were able to put out the fire, but the other 8 houses were burned to ashes as the houses contained LPG cylinders, filled to brim which exploded creating a havoc and a chaotic fire that burned everything, from the legal papers of the house to the last utensils. The police came in to take the report and have filed that as it is a season of festivities, the fire was started due to irresponsible handling of fire crackers in the region, whereas the believers are suspecting the role of anti-Christian elements.
The surrounding local communities were displeased by these 40 families have accepted Christ over the years but they never opposed them up front except for the one time when they threatened, “Return to your old faith, Hinduism, or else you will face dire consequences one day.”
Following the incident, the believers of the region are suspecting that the same opposition started this fire as it was not one to have just been started by an accident, but a calculated fire that spread to only the believers' houses of the region. Had it been a fire started by the irresponsible handling of firecrackers, it would have first spread to the surrounding regions of the non-Christians where these substances were being handled in masses since the last few days.
In another incident 9 Christian slum dwellers were arrested on charges of forcefully converting 400 people to Christianity when on real terms they refused to comply with the local mafia’s orders to vacate their homes for his unauthorized construction. The complaint was registered by religious extremists. The police took them into custody at a local police station, where they beat and mistreated them. From the arrested nine people, six were sent to prison under unlawful conversion act, but three young mothers were detained in police station against the law which states no women can be arrested after 6 pm. These mothers were held in custody with their hungry toddlers. The people were accused of forcing people to accept Christianity after providing benefits during pandemic lockdown.
Resistance from Christian slum dwellers against the construction helped the local mafia to create an improvised facade to rouse emotional sentiments of right-wing religious leaders. This resulted in the persecution of Dalit Christians under false allegations. Anti-Conversion law is being frequently used by powerful people for their vested interest.
Another news that has come to notice is where Swedish and German nationals were falsely accused of converting people into Christianity.
3 Swedish nationals have been booked on false charges of converting locals into Christianity. The Swedish nationals had come to attend a prayer meeting, but the anti-Christian elements had blamed them of forcefully converting the locals. The foreigners were deported back to their country when the embassies intervened and proved the charges as wrong.
While the same was the case with German nationals, where seven of them were questioned by state authorities next day after the Swedish were deported.
7 German visitors were on tourist visit and just attended the church but did not participate in any religious activities, yet they were questioned, invalidly blamed of attending the church for converting Indians.
The Germans were left only when they paid more than thousands of dollars, though the news mentions they paid $500. Two local Christians were arrested in the case for inviting the foreign nationals and involving them in religious pursuit.
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