– As per the everal Christian families have been assaulted and expelled from their village by local extremists for refusing to renounce their faith, drawing protest from an American group who says the attack violates the families’ rights under Indian law.
“International Christian Concern is deeply concerned to see that 10 Christian families have been beaten and displaced for merely exercising their religious freedom rights,” William Stark, regional manager said on July 3, 2018.
According to ICC, report that 10 Christian families are residing in Pahli village of Latehar district in eastern Indian state of Jharkhand has been driven from their homes for refusing to renounce their faith. This happened when the family meeting with local radicals. The radicals told them to renounce their faith or leave. After the families refused, they were beaten and driven from their village.
The radicals also locked down their homes so the family is unable to return to their homes and local authorities are unwilling to assist them. on 6th July Local police in Balumat have unlocked some of the persecuted family houses yet have not taken any action against the radicals, 25-year-old Shyamlal Kujju, one of the Christians affected, told ICC.
“We are living in fear, away from our homes,” Kujju said. “It is almost a month since my house is locked by Hindu radicals and there is no attempt by the police or the government to resolve the issue. Our lives are devastated as we hide from the Hindu radicals. We do not know how long this will continue.”
Father Theodore Mascarenhas, the secretary general of the Indian Catholic bishops’ conference speculated, following violence in another village of Jharkhand last month, that “maybe government agencies have been targeting Christian missionaries” in the region, which is predominantly poor, predominantly rural, and the epicenter of a long-running guerilla conflict between Maoist radicals and government forces.
The families in Pahli regularly worshipped in a fellow Christian’s home before the June 5 threat.
Christian Pastor Rajdev Toppo, who is familiar with the area, said it has become “increasingly difficult” to serve in the Latehar district.
“On a daily basis, I am threatened and ridiculed for teaching Christians the Word of God,” he told ICC. “The local government has not been helpful including when cases of the Christians were taken to the police and administration.”
Jharkhand State adopted legislation billed as a Freedom of Religion law in September 2017, but its critics see it as an anti-conversion law. The law regulates religious conversions and criminalizes forced conversions.
ICC said that “forced conversion” is a legally ambiguous term, and radicals often abuse these laws to make false accusations against Christians or to justify assaults against them.
Stark said India’s constitution backs the individual’s right to profess, practice and propagate his or her religion.
“This right has obviously been denied to these 10 Christian families in Pahli village,” he said. “Local authorities must take decisive action to correct this denial of rights and arrest those involved in the June 5 attack. Without enforcement, India’s religious freedom rights will remain only words on paper and attacks on Christians and other religious minorities will continue to rise in both number and severity.”
Earlier this year, Hindu nationalists posted online a video calling for a Christian-free India and showing them trampling a photo of Pope Francis near Sacred Heart Cathedral in New Delhi, the national capital.
