Activists appeal to Indian president to protect Christian women

More than 460 Christian leaders, community members, and civil society representatives from across the nation backed the campaign.

Christian women leaders, religious heads and community representatives appealed to President Droupadi Murmu to address increasing persecution in India affecting female Christians in particular.

In an urgent letter, sent by email to the president, they described the increasing attacks on Christian women in multiple states. Their appeal was prompted by an horrific incident on 2 January in the central state of Chhattisgarh, where a tribal woman suffered a miscarriage after being brutally assaulted for her faith.

Kunika Kashyap, who was six months pregnant, was praying over a sick relative when she was attacked and beaten by the village headman and members of his family.

Urging the president to intervene, the letter documented numerous cases of violence against Christian women across several states, including Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Manipur.

According to the ecumenical watchdog the United Christian Forum, 2024 witnessed 834 incidents of violence against Christians, up 100 incidents from 734 in 2023.

Chhattisgarh is notorious for hate crimes against Christians. It has recorded numerous incidents of physical violence, including killings, besides incarceration of Christians on false accusations. Eastern state Jharkhand has registered cases of ostracism and forced religious conversions against hapless Christians.

In Manipur, beset with ethnic violence, cases of murder, sexual assault and displacement abound. Since violence broke out in the state on May 2023, more than 120 people have been killed, mostly members of the Christian community. More than 360 churches and some church-run institutions have been destroyed, while more than 60,000 people have been displaced.

In the states of Punjab and Tamil Nadu, there have been reports of Christian women being forced into sex work, family abuse, and community ostracism, the letter said. The letter emphasised that these attacks represent a deliberate campaign of persecution threatening both religious freedom and constitutional rights.

The signatories urged the president to ensure immediate investigations into reported cases, protections for vulnerable Christian women, action against perpetrators and the implementation of constitutional safeguards.

“These systematic attacks demonstrate an alarming pattern of targeted violence that threatens our community’s existence. This cannot be dismissed as merely an ethnic conflict – the coordinated destruction of religious institutions and organised attacks on Christians reveals a deliberate campaign of persecution that strikes at the heart of our constitutional guarantees of religious freedom,” they said.

More than 460 Christian leaders, community members, and civil society representatives from across the nation backed the campaign. They include the social worker and academic Dr Anitha Chettiar, the human rights activist Fr Cedric Prakash SJ, Dr John Dayal (a former member of the National Integration Council), the chairman of the Evangelical Church of God Dr Richard Howell, the general secretary of the Council of Evangelical Churches in India Bishop Akhilesh Edgar and Vijayesh Lal, general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India.

US religious freedom report spotlights persecution in India

The converts’ trial

Stay updated — add us as a preferred news source on Google: