From January to April 2025, as many as 245 incidents of violence against Christians in India were reported, according to a New Delhi-based ecumenical body that records attacks against Christians.
On May 15, the United Christian Forum (UCF), in a press statement, said that Christians in India continue to receive two incidents of violence a day, as reported by UCF helpline service number 1-800-208-4545.
There has been a sharp increase since 2014. There were 127 incidents in 2014, followed by 142 in 2015, 226 in 2016, 248 in 2017, 292 in 2018, 328 in 2019, 279 in 2020, 505 in 2021, 601 in 2022, 734 in 2023, and 834 in 2024.
In 2025, from January to April, 245 incidents of violence against Christians were reported from 19 states of India, with 55 incidents in January, 65 in February, 76 in March, and 49 in April.
Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state in the north, continues to be at the top with 50 incidents, followed by 46 in Chhattisgarh state.
The other 17 states that are witnessing incidents of violence against Christians in India are Andhra Pradesh (14 incidents), Bihar (16 incidents), Delhi (1 incident), Gujarat (3 incidents), Haryana (12 incidents), Himachal Pradesh (3 incidents), Jharkhand (17 incidents), Karnataka (22 incidents), Madhya Pradesh (14 incidents), Maharashtra (6 incidents), Odisha (2 incidents), Punjab (6 incidents), Rajasthan (18 incidents), Tamil Nadu (1 incident), Telangana (1 incident), Uttarakhand (2 incidents), and West Bengal (11 incidents).
A. C. Michael, the UCF convener and a former member of the Delhi Minorities Commission, various church authorities, and civil society groups have repeatedly appealed to the federal and state governments to take stringent actions against people and Hindu right-wing groups that are allegedly behind the attacks against Christians and their institutions. However, the appeal has gone unheeded by the governments over the years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi led his pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the federal government, came to power in 2014, and won in 2019 and 2024.
Michael and other church bodies have urged Modi to form a national-level inquiry to look into the rising incidences of Christian minority persecution in India, but nothing has happened so far.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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