The year 2023 ends with three incidents per day against Christians in India, report says

The average number of violent incidents targeting Christians in India increased from two per day before the Christmas holiday to three per day beginning on December 25, the day of the Christmas gathering at the residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The United Christian Forum (UCF), an ecumenical organization that compiles data on atrocities against Christians in India, received reports of 23 incidents of violence against Christians in the last seven days of 2023.

Then there were incidents in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Punjab, as well as one each in Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.

In total, the final count ended with 720 incidents of violence against Christians in India in 2023, said A. C. Michael, national convenor of UCF.

On December 25, 2023, while church leaders were having lunch at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, authorities arrested five pastors, Rakesh, Arun, Ram, Ramkishore, and Ashok, for conducting worship services and celebrating Christmas.

On the same day, Uttar Pradesh police arrested three more individuals under the Freedom of Religion Act (FORA), a law that criminalizes religious conversions in several states in India.

A few more cases were reported before the year ended. Authorities denied a burial in Chhattisgarh. Villagers in Karnataka physically assaulted a pastor, excommunicated a family, denied their rations, and threatened them.

A mob stopped a lady pastor from conducting church services in Punjab and threatened and abused her. In Andhra Pradesh, a mob attacked and physically assaulted a church service in the Visakhapatnam district. A mob forcefully stopped a pastor from a Christmas prayer meeting in the national capital, New Delhi.