HYDERABAD, India (Morning Star News) – Attacks and harassment of a house church in southern India have decimated the 40-member congregation and left the pastor injured and demoralized. Pastor Eswara Rao Appalabattula on Jan. 27 pleaded with about a dozen local residents to stop building a wall meant to block people from attending worship services […]
Church Decimated after Upper-Caste Hindus Stir Hostilities in Andhra Pradesh, India
Christians too fearful to show up after attacks.
February 13, 2020 By - Leave a Comment
Court in Pakistan Validates Forced Conversion, Marriage of Christian Girl to Muslim
Underage victim continually kept from appearing at hearings.
February 12, 2020 By - 1 Comment
LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – A high court ruling in Pakistan validating the marriage and forced conversion to Islam of a 14-year-old Christian girl has heightened fears that it will encourage others to commit such crimes, sources said. The High Court in Sindh Province on Feb. 3 dismissed a petition to have the marriage […]
Hindu Extremists in Southern India Beat Christian Children, Accuse Worshippers
Assailants threaten to kill Christians.
February 4, 2020 By - Leave a Comment
HYDERABAD, India (Morning Star News) – Hindu extremists in southern India who beat Christian children during worship on Jan. 19 and then filed a police complaint against the congregation left them with a warning. “If we hear that you stepped out of your homes and told anybody about this, we will set your homes on […]
Forced into Payment Settlement, Christians Acquitted of 2015 Murders in Pakistan
Breadwinners maintaining their innocence spend nearly five years in jail.
January 31, 2020 By - Leave a Comment
LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – Maintaining their innocence, 39 Christians accused of killing two Muslims after 2015 church bombings in Pakistan reached an agreement to pay victim families in exchange for acquittal this week, sources said. An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday (Jan. 29), acquitted all 39 Christians and one Muslim accused in the […]
Severe Attack in Northern India Devastates Families, Church
Pastor, house-church homeowner lose their means of earning a living.
January 24, 2020 By - Leave a Comment
HYDERABAD, India (Morning Star News) – Before Pastor Jai Singh appeared before a judge in northern India and was jailed on false charges of luring people to convert, Hindu extremists had dragged him from house worship to a school where groups of six beat him in turns, he said. “From the school, they took me […]
Police in Uttar Pradesh, India, Most Harsh on Christians, Sources Say
Officers frequently bow to pressure from Hindu extremists.
January 6, 2020 By - Leave a Comment
HYDERABAD, India (Morning Star News) – Police in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state work in tandem with Hindu extremists to treat Christians and other religious minorities especially harshly, sources said. “The UP police force is very different from the rest of India,” Dinanath Jaiswar, a volunteer with legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom-India, told Morning […]
Christians in India Spend Christmas in Jail, Accused of Illegally Practicing Medicine
Law on unregistered medical practice invoked for healing prayer.
January 2, 2020 By - Leave a Comment
NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – Christians arrested in central India after Hindu nationalist, tribal villagers disrupted their worship service spent Christmas in jail before they were released on bail after 11 days – accused of illegally practicing medicine. Pastor Mukam Kiraad, 35, along with two members of his church, 40-year-old Lalsingh Tomar and 38-year-old […]
Axe-Wielding, Tribal Animists Set Bibles, Church Building Ablaze in Eastern India
Pastor and wife taken hostage for more than four hours.
December 18, 2019 By - Leave a Comment
HYDERABAD, India (Morning Star News) – Tribal animists in eastern India earlier this month surrounded a church building with axes, threatened to kill Christians within and later burned down the thatched-roof structure, sources said. Hard-line animists in Odisha state’s Perigaon village, Rayagada District, attacked on Dec. 1 after having raided Christians homes to seize and […]
Animists Opposing Christianity in India Find Allies in Maoists, Police, Hindu Extremists
Christians in tribal areas face persecution on many fronts.
December 4, 2019 By - 1 Comment
HYDERABAD, India (Morning Star News) – In an area of central India where tribal animists enlist Maoist militants to kill Christians who refuse to recant, Sodi Joga took it seriously when relatives threatened to kill him, his wife and 5-year-old daughter. “The villagers demanded that Joga and his family must partake in the cleansing ritual, […]
Fear of Hindu Extremist Violence Ends Christianity in Village in Northern India
Boy, 10, not spared in assault in Uttarakhand state.
December 2, 2019 By - Leave a Comment
NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – The gruesome beating of a pastor’s family in northern India last month showed why a woman who was once Christian returned to Hinduism – and joined the mob attacking them. “I was among the crowd abusing and accusing the Christian family,” the 30-year-old mother, whose name is withheld for security […]