By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
NEW DELHI (Worthy News) – Some 50 Christians were attacked during a Sunday service in western India, the latest in a series of attacks targeting churches in the mainly Hindu nation, Worthy News learned Wednesday.
The attack by suspected Hindu extremists in India’s Rajasthan state began when a group of about 200 people stormed a church building in Bikaner city, witnesses said.
At least three attendees of the February 16 service were “severely injured,” while most others were left with bruises all over their bodies after being struck with iron rods, according to Christians familiar with the situation.
The assailants vandalized the property before police arrived, Christians said.
In a statement released by the advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), the church pastor recalled that “a new member” attended the service that day and was seen sending cell phone text messages minutes before the mob entered the church.
The pastor, who remained anonymous for security reasons, added that the new member “ran out of the building.”
MOB DISPERSED
Members of the mob reportedly informed local police that forceful conversions were taking place at the church.
The mob dispersed the moment the police arrived at the scene, Christians said. “When the police questioned the victims, they accused them of forceful conversion and warned the pastor’s children that they should not turn out like their father,” added CSW in a statement.
“The police subsequently escorted the pastor, his wife, and a few other Christians to the Mukta Prasad police station at the mob’s insistence. However, they were not charged with forceful conversion as the attackers (complainants) were not able to provide any evidence.”
The Christians chose not to file a complaint out of fear of reprisals, and the police have not taken any action against the alleged perpetrators of the attack, Worthy News learned Wednesday.
It was in a month when the Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill 2025 was tabled in Rajasthan’s Legislative Assembly, the state’s legislature.
If the bill becomes law, the burden of proof will shift to those accused of forceful conversion to prove their innocence.
MORE LAWS
In 2024, the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh passed the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion (Amendment) Bill, which significantly altered its 2021 anti-conversion law, increasing jail terms and fines, according to sources familiar with the legislation.
The United Christian Forum (UCF), an Indian-based monitoring and help group, said attacks against Christians rose from 127 incidents in 2014 to 834 in 2024.
CSW’s Founder, President Mervyn Thomas, said in a statement that “CSW is concerned by the rising numbers of reported attacks on Christians and other religious minorities in India.”
He said that Christians have been increasingly subjected “to assaults, humiliation, and the loss of their livelihoods and belongings by far-right religious nationalists who make clearly baseless accusations of forceful conversion.l
Yet “those who carry out these attacks enjoy complete impunity. We urge the local authorities to be proactive and take firm and swift action against the perpetrators of such crimes,” he added.
Christians comprise just over two percent of India’s mainly Hindu population of more than 1.4 billion people, according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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