India — Last week, villagers in Odisha’s Nabarangpur district opposed the burial of a deceased Christian, claiming a Christian funeral would defile the gods and the land of the village. Authorities were unable to convince villagers to allow the burial, and the body was taken to another location.

Although Christian burials have long been denied in India, these denials are increasingly occurring as a method of persecuting Christians in Odisha.

In addition to finding increases in targeted attacks and other forms of persecution against Christians, three independent investigations conducted in Odisha between March and April pointed to an alarming rise in the number of Christians denied burial rights. The investigations concluded that the absence of state laws allocating burial land for Christians has enabled the trend.

The fact-finding teams, comprised of lawyers, activists, and researchers, visited the Nabarangpur, Gajapati, and Balasore districts to document the various forms of persecution against Christians. They also uncovered repeated instances of forced conversions, police brutality, and institutional failure against Christians.

In Nabarangpur, investigators documented appalling cases of denied Christian burial. In several incidents, bodies were exhumed, desecrated, or forcibly “converted” to Hinduism before burial.

In one case, the body of Saravan Gond, a young Christian man, was dug up and stolen after burial despite an alleged police presence. His family was physically assaulted and forced to flee their homes. To date, nobody knows the status of his remains.

In multiple villages, Christian families were forced to bury loved ones in remote forests or distant cemeteries because local Hindu nationalist groups refused to allow burials within village boundaries. Christian families could only bury their dead in the village if they converted to Hinduism.

One Adivasi Christian family was forced to sign papers claiming they had reconverted to Hinduism to bury a parent. Another woman was denied burial space for her husband because her sons had adopted Christianity, according to the investigations.

What emerges from these three reports is a pattern: Burial has become a site of religious coercion; police and local officials are indifferent or actively complicit; after formal complaints, no action was taken; and tribal identity was misused to justify discrimination.

This amounts to the weaponization of tribal identity by Hindu nationalist groups who equate the Christian faith with a betrayal of culture. They then use that claim to deny Christians burial rights, the report noted.
Sources:persecution

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NEW DELHI — Villagers practicing tribal religion who assaulted Christian families and drove them from their homes in central India for practicing their faith have threatened to kill them if they return, sources said.

In Sukma District, Chhattisgarh state, the Christian families were assaulted, threatened and forcibly expelled from their homes for their faith on April 24. About 45 members from 10 Christian families fled Durandarbha village, in Konta tehsil, and scattered to nearby hills and forests. They spent the night in the open air before taking refuge at a church in Chintalnar, 11 miles away.

On April 28, the Christians sent two women to Durandarbha to gauge residents’ attitudes. They returned terrified, reporting the villagers had threatened to kill them all if they returned still following Christ.

“Leave Jesus Christ and only then enter the village,” they were told, according to Hirma Markam, who was helping to care for the Christian families in Chintalnar.

On April 29, they received news that the home of one of those who fled, Mediyam Lakhma, had been destroyed by fire. The perpetrators remain unidentified, but “it seems obvious that the villagers have done it,” Markam said.

Santosh Markam, another helper, added, “The families had to flee towards the hills and some towards the forest with women, children and elderly to escape the fury of the villagers and have not returned to their homes since.”

One of the assaulted families, including three children, remained in the village, said Kunjam Bechem, one of the expelled Christians.

“The Christian and one of his [minor] sons were severely assaulted, and the family has been under house arrest since by the villagers,” Bechem told Morning Star News.

Summoned and ambushed

The villagers had summoned 11 families to a meeting on April 24. When the Christians gathered as instructed, about 60 villagers armed with thick wooden sticks surrounded them and began challenging their faith.

They harshly demanded the Christians renounce Christ, but the families remained steadfast, providing explanations for their belief.

“We were dying in our sickness, and you did not bother about how we lived,” a Christian woman told the villagers, according to Bechem. “Now that Jesus has healed us and we are living a healthy life, our health and peaceful lives bother you, and you come to question our faith.”

The verbal confrontation quickly escalated to physical violence, with villagers attacking indiscriminately.

“They showed no mercy to elderly women and children,” said Hirma Markam. “The assault was ruthless.”

The villagers proceeded to raid the Christians’ homes, searching for Bibles and important government documents that established their identities, and subsequently burned them.

“Some men entered our homes and seized our Bibles, posters that had Bible verses, our bank documents, our ration cards [which provide access to monthly government food rations], my Aadhaar card [a biometric identification document], gathered them together, and burned them,” said Padaam Hidma, who supports five dependents.

The Christians were beaten so severely that they fled toward the hills and forests, pursued by their attackers.

“We all got scattered — some took shelter in the hills and some in the forest,” Bechem said. “It was only the next morning that we all met at village Chimli, about three miles from Durandarbha, and headed towards our church in Chintalnar, nine miles beyond Chimli, and reunited.”

On April 25, the Christians approached the Jagargunda police station, eight miles from Chintalnar in the forest, to report the assault. Police escorted the Christians to a government hospital for medical examination on April 26.

Three minors, nine women and six men suffered brutal assaults, according to Bechem.

The Christians did not receive a copy of their complaint, nor were they informed whether formal charges had been filed against their attackers.

“The police advised us not to return to the village immediately but to let the matter settle,” Bechem said.

Police summoned the attackers to the station and issued verbal warnings, Bechem said. The Christians were later informed that the villagers had been cautioned that repeat offenses would result in severe legal consequences.

The Christians also filed a complaint with the collectorate, but “police did nothing yet and no arrests have been made,” Santosh Markam said.

The 45 members from these 10 families continue to take refuge in the makeshift church.

When Morning Star News contacted Hirma Markam on May 8 inquiring about the Christians’ condition, he mentioned that rain had fallen twice and that the church roof of hay and wooden logs was leaking.

“It has been so hard for the Christians to stay dry and safe on rainy days all night,” he said.

Prior violence

Bechem and his wife Kamla, who now have a 5-month-old baby, have practiced Christianity for three years.

“The villagers have never had a problem with our faith before,” said Bechem, who owns agricultural land in the village, “but they have suddenly gone to the extreme of assaulting us to death,” he added.

Some community members have practiced Christianity for five years, others like Bechem for three years, and some for two years.

Bhima Sodi, a Christian leader in the Sukma area, revealed that the Durandarbha incident was not an isolated case of expulsion. On April 12, seven Christian tribal families comprising 36 people were expelled from village Karigundam, under Kistaram Police Station jurisdiction in Sukma, 21 miles from Durandarbha.

During a village council meeting attended by about 2,000 villagers from eight villages, 15 Christian families from Karigundam were pressured to abandon their faith.

Seven families gave into the pressure “for fear of losing their home, livestock and work,” while eight families remained resolute, refusing to renounce their faith, according to Sodi.

Following their refusal, a unanimous decision was reached, resulting in the expulsion of these eight families from the village.

The deputy superintendent of police and the Central Reserve Police Force of India (CRPF) visited the village on April 14, after social media coverage brought the incident to the authorities’ attention.

Reports indicate they confronted the village council leaders regarding the unlawful resolution and warned of legal consequences for future similar actions. They also ensured the Christians recovered their belongings.

Both Karigundam and Durandarbha are located in Sukma District, which has an extremely low population density of 45 persons per square kilometer. Forests cover 65% of the district’s area, and nearly 85% of the population is tribal, with India’s lowest literacy rate at 29%.

Christian support organization Open Doors ranks India 11th on its 2025 World Watch List of countries where Christians face the most severe persecution. India stood at 31st place in 2013 but has steadily fallen in the rankings since Narendra Modi came to power as prime minister.

Religious rights advocates point to the hostile tone of the National Democratic Alliance government, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which they say has emboldened Hindu extremists in India since Modi took power in May 2014.
Sources:Christianpost

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കവർധ : ഛത്തീസ്ഗഡ് സംസ്ഥാനത്ത് കവർധയിൽ ദീർഘ വർഷങ്ങളായി സുവിശേഷ വേല ചെയ്ത് വരുന്ന മലയാളിയായ പ്രിയ കർത്തൃദാസൻ പാസ്റ്റർ ജോസ് തോമസിനെയും ഇവിടെയുള്ള സഭാ വിശ്വാസികളെയും മെയ്‌ 18 ഞാറാഴ്ച്ച പകൽ വിശുദ്ധ സഭാ ആരാധന മദ്ധ്യേ സഭാ ഹാളിൽ അതിക്രമിച്ച് കയറി ഒരു കൂട്ടം സുവിശേഷ വിരോധികൾ ‘ജയ് ശ്രീ റാം’ വിളിച്ച് കൊണ്ട് വ്യാജ മത പരിവർത്തന ആരോപണം ഉന്നയിച്ച് ക്രൂരമായി ആക്രമിക്കുകയും പിന്നീട് പോലീസിനെ വിളിച്ച് വരുത്തി കസ്റ്റഡിയിൽ എടുപ്പിക്കുകയും ചെയ്തു.
എല്ലാ പ്രിയ ദൈവജനവും ഛത്തീസ്ഗഡിലെ വിവിധ സുവിശേഷ പ്രവർത്തനങ്ങളെയും, ദൈവദാസന്മാരെയും, ദൈവമക്കളെയും ഓർത്തും ഈ പ്രദേശങ്ങളിലെ സുവിശേഷ വിരോധികൾ യേശുക്രിസ്തുവിന്റെ സ്നേഹം തിരിച്ചറിയേണ്ടതിനും വേണ്ടി ഈ നാളുകളിൽ ശക്തമായി പ്രാർത്ഥിക്കുവാൻ ദൈവനാമത്തിൽ അപേക്ഷിക്കുന്നു.
Sources:Middleeast Christian Youth Ministries

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