DELHI— Christians in the Himalayan town of Roorkee had gathered for a prayer meeting when a mob of 200 Hindu extremists barged into their sanctuary shouting, “Jai Shri Ram!” (Victory to Lord Ram).

Eva Lance, a church member present that day, told ReligionUnplugged.com the mob falsely claimed the church was illegally functioning on private property and forcefully converting Hindu villages to Christianity. The mob beat many Christians present and vandalized the church building, Lance said.  

Three months later this week, police arrested two suspects and released them on bail the same day.

2021 saw the highest number of physical attacks against Indian Christians on record, with 486 attacks, an 80% increase from 2020, according to United Christian Forum, which collects the data from a phone helpline.

Open Doors USA recently ranked India as the 10th most dangerous country for Christians, after Iran and ahead of Saudi Arabia. Afghanistan topped the list, followed by North Korea, Somalia, Libya, Yemen, Eritrea, Nigeria and Pakistan.

A recent report released by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights, United Christian Forum and United Against Hate found that a total of 305 attacks against Christians happened across the country between January and September, with the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh recording the most — 66 such instances — followed by Chhattisgarh and Karnataka. The data is based on the 1,362 phone calls that were made to UCF’s toll-free helpline number in 2021. 

A.C. Michael, a prominent Christian activist for human rights and member of the report committee of Christians Under Attack in India, told ReligionUnplugged.com that Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of hate crimes because state elections are coming soon, and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government wins votes by creating an atmosphere of polarization.

“Dividing between majority and minority is a certain political game of certain political groups,” Michael said. “It's openly seen.”

New Anti-Conversion Laws

The surge in anti-Christian attacks has been fueled by growing right-wing demand to pass “anti-conversion” laws and frustration that these laws don’t already exist. On paper, they aim to prevent forceful religious conversions, but in practice, they strangle religious freedoms. India’s constitution guarantees the right to “propagate religion.”

There is no national law restricting religious conversions, but a dozen states in India have adopted anti-conversion laws — mostly Bharatiya Janata Party-led states.

Karnataka’s legislative cabinet last year passed an anti-conversion bill, and attacks against Christians have recently spread southward to the state, which has been home to a Christian community since the arrival of Portuguese Catholics in the 1500s. Most states where hate crimes against Christians increased in 2021 are in the Hindi belt of North India, where support for the BJP is strongest.

Although the anti-conversion laws have existed in India since 1967, states like Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka are modifying the laws to be more stringent. The Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance 2020, which replaced an earlier act, punishes anyone involved in forceful conversion with a jail term of up to 10 years and fines ranging from 15,000 to 50,000 rupees ($200 to $700). A person who wishes to convert religions after marrying must apply to the local government, and the burden of proof to show he or she is not under coercion is on the convert, not an accuser.

While introducing the new act, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the law is needed because conversions have become rampant in the state.  

India’s Roman Catholic Archbishop Felix Anthony Machado said the attitude of the Karnataka government toward anti-Christian attacks is permissive and tolerant. He believes anti-conversion laws target the Christian community and encourage violence — like the more than seven hate crimes against Christians reported across the country that disrupted 2021 Christmas celebrations.

“It is to be noted here that many attacks must have been missed out as the report is solely based on the calls received by UCF,” Machado said in a statement at the report’s release.

Rising Majoritarianism

In April, as the United Nations Commission on International Religious Freedom published the 2021 International Religious Freedom Report, India ranked fourth on the list of countries of particular concern. The report specifically highlighted that the present BJP-led government “promoted Hindu Nationalist Policies which results in violation of religious freedom.”

Michael, while surveying for his organization’s report, also found that minority communities face social boycotts in addition to violence and continue to live in fear.

“In Bastar region in Chattisgarh, there is a social boycott against the Christian community,” he said. “They are not allowed to do shopping from community centers or even fetch water from the well.” 

Michael further stressed that while Hindu extremists attacking churches allege that forced conversions are happening inside these communities, how can someone be forced to convert? 

“I really don't understand what you mean by forceful conversion,” he said. “How do you force them, at gunpoint?”

Many of India’s Christian converts are illiterate and live in poverty. In the colonial period, British Christian missionaries were accused of enticing rural Indians to the faith by providing medicine, food and schooling. Converting from Hinduism to Christianity can also mean leaving a system of caste oppression to enter a Christian community, which brings its own challenges for those from the lowest parts of society.

In 1954, the Indian Conversion Bill was introduced to require licenses for missionaries and registration with the government for religious conversion — essentially requiring the local government’s permission and attracting its notice to change your religion legally. Then in 1960, the Backward Communities Bill was introduced to restrict the conversion of Hindus — tribal pagan Indians were considered Hindu — to “non-Indian” religions like Christianity.

In 1967, the first anti-conversion law was passed in the southern state of Odisha, which prohibited converting or attempting to convert, “either directly or otherwise, any person from one religious faith to another by the use of force or by inducement or by any fraudulent means.”

It was in Odisha that Hindu extremists massacred Christians in the largest attack in India’s recent history. The government stated that close to 50 people died in the massacre, but surveys by human rights organizations claim the death count to be at least 100 people, with more than 300 churches and 6,000 homes razed, resulting in the migration of 56,000 people.

Implementing Anti-Conversion Laws

Aditya Giri, a practicing lawyer in the Supreme Court of India, believes that anti-conversion laws need to be analyzed under the newly implemented right to privacy in India’s constitution.

The right to privacy is an extension of the right to “life” and “liberty” provided under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which aims to restrict government and private sectors from invading the privacy of individuals.

“The newly implemented Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020, marks a dangerous precedent as it punishes the converted and the converter alike,” Giri said. “This not only violates the principle of state intervention but also the rights ensured under articles 21 and 25.”

Article 25 provides the right to any individual to “propagate,” “practice” and “profess” any religion of their own choice. However, with the recent rise in attacks on Christians, including churches being attacked on Sunday, it is clear that even practicing one’s own religion has become difficult for them.

Kavita Krishnan, secretary of the All India Progressive Women’s Association, said that religion is a matter of personal conscience, and the state shouldn’t regulate it. 

“Under the garb of anti-conversion, what the state is targeting is not only conversion but also interfaith marriage, interfaith relationship and all of that,” she said. “These are the steps taken by RSS (a civil organization that supports the BJP) and the BJP towards making India a Hindu Rashtra (nation).”

Krishnan asked, if force is being used to achieve certain objectives, why is conversion alone being criminalized, and nothing else?

“What if I am forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ tomorrow? Will that be criminalized, or a separate law will be made to do it? It is the force that should be criminalized and not the religion,” she said.