Alarming Surge in Violence Against Indian Christians: Anti-Conversion Laws Enable Harassment and Attacks, Rights Groups Warn

New Delhi- The All India Catholic Union (AICU), Asia's largest Catholic lay movement, founded 106 years ago and now led by national president Elias Vaz, has decried the country's anti-conversion laws as a "wound to Indian democracy, national ethics, freedom of belief, conscience, and expression." Speaking at its recent General Assembly in Mangalore, attended by around 150 delegates from across the nation, the AICU highlighted how these controversial measures in 12 states are being weaponized by Hindu nationalist groups to target Christian and Muslim minorities, Dalits, and indigenous communities. Lawsuits challenging their constitutionality are pending before the Supreme Court in multiple states.

The assembly, which also launched "Bandhutva"- an interfaith dialogue initiative drawing on the legacies of Mother Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi to foster compassion, addressed "crisis management" strategies for responding to violence and controversies. "These laws aim to reduce freedom, constrain consciences, and make religious beliefs subject to judicial approval," the AICU stated in a communique. "They are exploited to criminalize non-Hindu communities."

John Dayal, an AICU member, told reporters that since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) assumed power in 2014, states have proliferated and toughened these laws, premised on the "false assumption" that minorities threaten national unity. Often tied to exaggerated fears of demographic shifts, the measures use vague terms like "force, undue influence, or inducement" to deem nearly any conversion illegal, shifting the burden of proof onto the accused. Punishments are harsher for conversions involving Dalits, Adivasis, women, and children, groups Hindu nationalists view as vulnerable to "seduction."

The laws, in effect since the late 1960s in some areas, have intensified over the past decade in BJP-ruled states like Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. Rajasthan's 2025 legislation explicitly voids conversions via marriage or "fraudulent means," enabling broad interpretation to stifle free choice.

This rhetoric is no longer abstract: Verified reports from human rights monitors reveal a disturbing pattern of harassment and physical attacks on Christians, frequently invoked under these laws. The Evangelical Fellowship of India's Religious Liberty Commission (EFIRLC) documented 334 systematic cases of targeting against Christians from January to July 2025 alone, with Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh accounting for over half. Threats, false accusations, and legal intimidation comprised two-thirds of incidents, often as preludes to violence.

Most Recent Incidents of Attacks and Harrassment

July 17, 2025, remote village in Maharashtra: A mob of Hindu nationalists stormed homes, dragging 56 Christians—including women and children—into the streets for brutal beatings with sticks, causing lacerations and fractures. Homes and farmland were razed, livestock stolen, and victims forced to flee. No arrests followed despite pleas to police, amid fears of a looming state anti-conversion law.

July 19, 2025, another Maharashtra village: Around 30 Bajrang Dal activists, armed with rods and stones, besieged the sole Christian family's home during a prayer meeting, smashing their motorbike and issuing threats. The family barricaded themselves inside, but the attack heightened community-wide dread of reprisals.

July 25, 2025, Durg Railway Station, Chhattisgarh: Sisters Preeti Mary and Vandana Francis, nuns from Kerala, were arrested while escorting tribal women to job opportunities in Agra, with full parental consent and documents. Charged under anti-conversion and trafficking statutes after Hindutva complaints, they faced coercion and threats in custody; video showed activists intimidating them as police watched. Bail was granted days later.

Early 2025, Uttar Pradesh: Jose and Sheeja Pappachan, a Christian couple, became the first convicted under the state's anti-conversion law, arrested at home mid-laundry for alleged proselytizing (with no evidence). They face five years in prison and fines of 25,000 rupees each.

August 2025, Bhilai, Chhattisgarh: Six pastors were detained, beaten with batons in Durg jail for declaring their faith during questioning. Despite torture evidence, charges linger, with no accountability for perpetrators

These follow a 2024 uptick, including a December 27 mob assault in Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, where Pastor Shivbaran Paswan was forcibly shaved, paraded, and charged under anti-conversion laws instead of protected. An October 2024 arrest of Pastor Biju Mathew in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, after a worship service beating, kept him jailed into 2025.

The AICU vows determined defense of faith and conscience rights, urging repeal of these laws. As Dayal warned, "Hindu nationalism, deeply rooted in government and society, multiplies these threats." With 640 verified anti-Christian incidents in 2024 alone, rising into 2025, observers fear unchecked escalation unless judicial intervention halts the cycle of assault, arrest, and impunity.