Civil society group submits memorandum to Vatican on ‘targeted violence’ against Christians in India
New Delhi: The United Christian Forum, a civil society group, has reportedly submitted a memorandum to the Vatican highlighting what it calls a rise in “targeted violence and hostility” against Christians in India.
The memorandum was handed over to Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s Foreign Minister, during his visit to India this week to meet Indian officials and church functionaries, as reported by The Hindu. It urged Gallagher to talk about attacks on Christians while meeting Indian officials.
Gallagher met External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday, who described their discussion as a “good conversation about the importance of faith and the need for dialogue and diplomacy to address conflicts.”
https://twitter.com/DrSJaishankar/status/1945742340078883153
The visit comes months after a report by the United Christian Forum, which recorded a steep rise in attacks on Christians—from 127 cases in 2014 to 834 in 2024. In its memorandum submitted to Gallagher, the civil society group referred to the report on the rise in “incidents of violence and hostility towards Christians”, noting that the “primary reason for these attacks has been false allegations of fraudulent conversions”, The Hindu added.
The civil society group further mentioned that Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh were the top two states where such allegations had led to “either attacks on people at prayer or their illegal arrest by the police.”
The United Christian Forum earlier stated that the reported cases in Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh only scratch the surface, claiming that actual incidents at the grassroots level could be three to ten times higher. In 2024 alone, Uttar Pradesh recorded 209 attacks against Christians, while Chhattisgarh reported 165.
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Chhattisgarh court grants bail to two Kerala nuns in human trafficking-conversion case
Bilaspur (PTI): A special court in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district on Saturday granted bail to three persons, including two nuns from Kerala, arrested on charges of human trafficking and forced religious conversion, lawyers said.
Principal District and Sessions Judge (NIA court) Sirajuddin Qureshi had reserved the order on their bail pleas after a hearing on Friday.
The court has granted conditional bail to the trio, defence lawyer Amrito Das said.
Catholic nuns Preethi Merry and Vandana Francis, both from Kerala, along with Sukaman Mandavi, were arrested at the Durg railway station on July 25, following a complaint from a local Bajrang Dal functionary, who accused them of forcibly converting three girls from Narayanpur and trafficking them, a railway police official had said.
Following the bail hearing on Friday, Das had said that the prosecution had not asked for the trio's custody for interrogation, and the alleged victims had been sent back to their homes.
