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Ever since the ascent of the Bharatiya Janata Party to
power in New Delhi in 1997 the number of incidents of
atrocities against Christians is far higher than those
reported in over 30 years before 1997. The atrocities
against Christians pose a real and accelerating
challenge for Indias secular democracy.
Data compiled by the New Delhi-based United Christian
Forum for Human Rights show that the number of
registered cases of violence against Christians
between 1964 and 1996 was 38. There were 15 such cases
in 1997. In 1998 the number went up to 90. The number
of cases of violence against Christians in Gujarat has
been 38 in 1998, according to the Forum. The steep
rise in such incidents suggests a pattern.
The Forum has found that there were five cases of rape
of nuns in 1998 in the country. Nine nuns have been
killed and 25 nuns manhandled. Sixteen priests and
pastors have been killed and 11 churches or chapels
destroyed or set on fire.
* * * * *
INCIDENTS OF VIOLENCE FROM 1964 TO DECEMBER 1998
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1964 TO 1996 Violent incidents against Christians: 38
1997 violent incidents against Christians: 15
1998 violent incidents against Christians: 90
Number of cases in State of Gujarat in 1998: 15
Number of churches/chapels destroyed: 11
* * * * *
VIOLENCE FROM 1964 TO DECEMBER 1996
1964 Bihar Father A. Goveas killed in Jehanabad.
1964 Bihar Fr. Herman Rasschaert killed in Kutungia
(Simdega).
1978 Bihar Fr. Martinseck killed in Mokameh.
1978 Bihar Sr. Mukti Manhandled in Sasaram.
1980 Bihar Fr. Mathew Mannaparambil killed in Sasaram.
1980 Bihar Fr. Martin Mezhkunal killed in Gulni.
1987 Uttar Pradesh Fr. Adeoldalus killed in Sardana,
Meerut.
1987 Bihar Fr. Thomas Chakkalackal kidnapped in West
Champaran
1990 Manipur Fr. Mathew killed in Imphal.
1990 Maharastra Sr. Sylvia killed in Mumbai.
1990 Maharastra Sr. Priya killed in Mumbai.
1990 Uttar Pradesh Three nuns beaten and two raped in
Gajraula.
1991 Manipur Fr. P. X. Francis manhandled
1992 M. P. A priest manhandled in Ujjain.
1992 M. P. Nuns manhandled in Ujjain.
1992 Uttar Pradesh Church building razed by a mob,
worshippers and children beaten up in village Pahenia
of Khatima Tehsil in Udham Singh Nagar district.
1992 Uttar Pradesh Christians in Pahenia, Khatima
assaulted and brutalized.
1992 Uttar Pradesh Pastor Das murdered in Pahenia,
Khatima.
1992 Punjab Fr. Angelus Anthony manhandled in Amloh,
Fatehgarh Sahib.
1992 Punjab Nine nuns manhandled in Amritsar.
1993 Punjab Sr. Maria manhandled in Amloh, Fatehgarh
Sahib.
1993 Punjab Sr. Almy killed in Amloh, Fatehgarh Sahib.
1993 Maharashtra Fr. Louis Moolaveetil killed in
Nagpur.
1994 Bihar Fr. Lawrence Kujur killed in Gumla.
1994 Bihar Fr. Joseph Dungdung. killed in Gumla.
1994 Bihar Br. Anup Induvar killed in Gumla.
1994 Kerala Sr. Abhaya killed in Kottayam.
1995 Uttar Pradesh Nuns manhandled in Mariamnagar,
Ghaziabad.
1995 Bihar Two priests killed in Gumla.
1995 West Bengal One priest killed in Raiganj.
1995 Madhya Pradesh Sr. Rani Maria killed in Indore.
1995 Uttar Pradesh Sr. Stanislaus killed in
Suryanagar.
1995 Uttar Pradesh Sr. Effy manhandled in Suryanagar
1995 Uttar Pradesh Sr. Cecil manhandled in Suryanagar.
1995 Uttar Pradesh Sr. Stella manhandled in Suryanagar
1995 Uttar Pradesh Sr. Angeli manhandled in Suryanagar
1995 Assam Sr. Augustina killed in Assam.
1996 Madhya Pradesh Fr. L. Bridget and Sr. Vridhi Ekka
jailed in Ambikapur, Sarguja district, charged with
converting tribals.
1996 Assam Sr. Lily shot dead by Bodo militants in St.
Joseph's Convent at Bansbari.
1996 Gujarat: Churches were damaged in Dona village
1996 Gujarat: Churches were damaged in Halmodi village
* * * * *
VIOLENCE IN 1997
March 20, 1997 Uttar Pradesh: Annual Spiritual
Convention of the Love of the Cross Team Fellowship
interrupted and stopped by the police in Khatima.
July 30, 1997Maharashtra: Shiv Sena corporator Neeta
Naik rebukes and threatens principals of six leading
Catholic schools for denying admissions to
recommendations from Sena men.
Sept. 2, 1997, Dumka (Bihar) - RC Father Christudas
assaulted, paraded naked.
Oct. 25, '97, Ludhiana (Punjab) - Prayer meeting
disrupted by alleged VHP activists, six hurt in
lathi-charge.
Oct. 27, '97, Hazaribagh (Bihar) - Father A.T. Thomas
murdered brutally.
Oct. 30, '97, Ojada (Guiarat): Armed men vandalise
tribal Christian households.
November 13 (Gujarat) : Umerpada village. 24
Christians were harassed by the police inspector G. M.
Damor of Dangs Police station on
November 13, 1997 on a false complaint allegedly made
by a local VHP activist Kalu Chhibadia of Ghadavi
village.
Nov. 22, '97, Banswara (Rajasthan) - Series of attacks
on parish members, written threats to rid the district
of Christians in three years by alleged VHP activists.
Nov. 22, '97, Maram (Manipur) - Father Jose
Nedumattahil, Principal of Don Bosco school, murdered.
November 25 Gujarat): In Kudkas village, on November
25 1997, evangelist Premchand was going home on a
cycle at 11 p.m. after finishing a prayer meeting when
he was beaten by the police Patel.
November 1997 (Gujarat): Christian convention at Lal
Bahadur Shastri Stadium was disturbed in November 1997
when during the evening session, alleged VHP
volunteers came up to the stage and snatched the mike,
while the preacher was singing devotional songs. They
shouted Hindu slogans through the mike. Cables were
cut and a Matador van parked on the ground was damaged
December 26 1997: Dagadpada village, GUJARAT: on
December 26 1997, a day after Christmas, adivasis
celebrating the festival were stoned and harassed the
entire night by CPI Damor and others and were put in
jail for no reason at the height of their festival
celebrations.
December 25, 1997: Pipalwada, Vyara taluka, Surat
district, GUJARAT :one group of 2,000 people of Hindu
fundamentalists came to demolish churches and disrupt
the Christmas celebrations, arranged in the churches
there. Series of attacks on Christian tribals
allegedly by Vanvasi Kalyan Parished.
* * * * *
VIOLENCE IN 1998
Jan. 6, '98, Bangaon (Bihar) - Father Villan Topno
attacked seriously hurt.
In January 1998, Hingoli (Maharashtra) - Paul
Nagendran and his team were beaten up. Nagendran lies
paralysed.
February (Haryana): A 200 year-old graveyard belonging
to the Christian community was captured illegally and
a grave desecrated and destroyed in Hansi.
Feb. 15, '98 Latur (Maharashtra) - Alleged RSS workers
attack Catholic Hospital Association of India camp.
20 February, 1998 (Tamil Nadu) - Bethany Fellowship
Church was destroyed in Erode.
February (Gujarat): Divan Tembrum village. The heads
of the village, police Patel Ramesh Avasu and Suresh
Mahru, rushed to the prayer hall while prayers were
taking place at 8 p.m. The Christians were beaten up
with police sticks. A complaint was made to the police
but no action has been taken.
March 2(Gujarat): Padra, Baroda District. A group of
people were distributing handbills concerning an
oncoming Christian meeting scheduled to be held on
Baroda polo grounds during 4th to 7th March, 1998.
VHP-Bajrang Dal, Durga Vahini young men came out in
large numbers and started severely beating the group,
which included a few foreign tourists. One woman, who
was pregnant, was kicked with boots. Another woman's
frock was torn. They were not only severely beaten but
also forced them to chant the names of Hindu gods.
Later the police came on the scene and took the
victims to the Padra police station and detained them
there for a long time.
March 4(Gujarat): Vadodara (Baroda), Attack in the
Baroda polo ground on peaceful Christian minority
group. Jesus Mahotsav meeting was scheduled to be
conducted on the polo ground Baroda, during 4th to
7th March, 1998 with due permissions from the
authorities. Necessary arrangements for this meeting
were made including erection of a dais for the
speakers and another pulpit for the singing team. A
group of about 300 young volunteers allegedly of the
VHP-Bajrang Dal descended on the stage and on the polo
ground, where a large audience was patiently waiting
for viewing the listening the programme.. The group
began running among the audience, blowing whistles and
bursting fire crackers, thereby creating great
commotion and panic among the entire gathering. They
resorted to severely and mercilessly beating the
audience. On an earlier day they tried to set the
stage on fire, when it was being erected. Some people
in the audience received such severe injuries
including fractured hands and head injuries. A Maruti
800 car (No GJ-6-AA 308) belonging to one of the
participants was burnt. The trouble makers also
destroyed musical instruments, the loss of which is
estimated to be around Rs 2 lakh. The buses engaged
for transporting the participants in the meeting were
prevented from taking off. The stranded participants
using public transport at the bus stands were singled
out and were mercilessly beaten.
Mar 13,'98, Khanvel (Dadra & Nagar Haveli) - Pilgrims
attacked by Holi revellers.
March 25 (Bihar): Luke Putaniyil of Missionaries of
Charity murdered in Noeada, a place about 120kms. from
Patna..
Apr '98, Kurnool (Andhra Pradesh) - Gipson's Central
Baptist Church threatened with demolition by VHP
activists.
Apr 3, '98 Baroda (Gujarat) - Christian convention at
the polo grounds attacked by the members of the VHP
and Bajrang Dal.
Apr 11, '98, Palanpur (Gujarat) - Worshippers at
prayer meet attacked on grounds of holding 'Jesus
Mahotsav'.
April 11, 1998, Palanpur (Gujarat) - Angelos II the
Music team of Inter Collegiate Prayer Fellowship was
not allowed to perform.
April 11, 1998 (Gujarat): Palanpur. Attack on
Christian gathering during the Passion week on 11th
April, 1998:. The united meeting of Christian
communities of Palanpur at the Municipal hall during
the passion week (Crucifixion of Jesus Christ) on
10,11 & 12th April, 1998 : was attacked on 11 April in
the afternoon around 4 pm when some 30-35 members
allegedly of the VHP/Bajrang Dal forcibly entered the
Municipal hall from behind the climbing the compound
wall, armed with hockey sticks, cricket bats, iron
rods, etc. They destroyed the food being prepared for
about 250 guests, damaged vessels, entered the next
room where some women and children were resting, and
beat them. They damaged a Tata bus of the mission
which was parked on the ground near the hall. The
damage is estimated at Rs 35,000/-.
April 16(GUJARAT): NARODA (Ahmedabad). Church under
construction razed to the ground by the Gram Panchayat
The St Antony's Church, Prayer hall, Community hall
and Medical Centre which were under different stages
of construction, near the Murlidhar society in Naroda
(Ahmedabad suburb) were destroyed in the presence of a
large and armed gathering. There are many religious
and other structures which are illegally constructed,
in the Naroda Gram Panchayat area and AUDA area, and
even in the Capital city of Gandhinagar, but only the
Christian buildings were targeted.
Naroda: St. Mary's School, run by the Jacobites, was
vandalized on the pretext that Sanskrit was not taught
there. Among other religious articles, a statue of the
Virgin Mary was badly damaged
May 5, '98 Koshippilly (Kerala) - 'Little Flower
Church' vandalised, crucifix desecrated 10 May, 1998,
(Mumbai) - 40 strong group disrupted the Sunday
Worship in 4 churches.
May 11 (Maharashtra) : Shiv Sena activists attacked
Father Octavio Nevis with iron rods in Ambernath.
May 15, '98 - Ranchi (Bihar) Brother Modestus Tirkey.
headmaster of a Catholic School attacked.
May 18,(Gujarat) : Miscreants attacked and stoned the
jeep of a Catholic priest Xavier Amalraj at Pipalvada
near Zankhvav breaking the windshield and injuring one
of the occupants of the jeep.
June 1 (Maharastra) : Christians beaten and 6 houses
destroyed.
June 11, '98 - Ambarnath (Maharashtra) - Alleged Shiv
Sainiks assault Father Octavio Antony Nevis with iron
bars.
June 16, '98 - (Maharashtra) -Christians of Friends
Missionary Prayer Band (FMPB) were beaten by Sarpanch
and houses were destroyed.
June 16 (Maharashtra) : St. Savariyar Church at
Srilankapada, Malad in Mumbai was demolished by the
Municipal Corporation.
June 17 (Gujarat): The principal of St Xaviers's
School, Deputy Collector with the express orders of
the Collector, Surat, and with police came to search
and confiscate records of admissions and students who
had applied. Another school, Lourdes Convent, was also
humiliated with such orders-to-search- and-confiscate.
The principal complained that the district education
officer too was constantly harassing with threats of
derecognition and cutting off of grants. The principal
alleged that the collector's office was involved in
the attempt to implicate the two schools.
June 21, 1998 (Gujarat): Singana village in Dangs
Prayer hall burnt
June 26, 1998 (Gujarat): Prayer hall burnt at 8:30
p.m. in Lahan Kadmad village in Dangs District.
June 29 (Gujarat): Prayer hall in Umarpada attacked
but assailants failed to set it on fire.
July 8, 1998 (Gujarat): Kapadwanj, Nadiad district
(old Kheda district) : The body of Samuel Christian, a
Methodist Christian, was exhumed allegedly by VHP
activists from the cemetery at Kapadvanj and dumped
near the Methodist church. A group of Vaghris, an OBC
community, had encroached on the cemetery-land while
the police and the administration have been allegedly
not taking prompt action.
July 11,'98 - Bhind (Maharashtra) - two workers of
FMPB were beaten.
July 12, 1998 (GUJARAT) :, Christians gathered for
Sunday worship when village Patel Baburao Gavit
allegedly rushed in brandishing a bottle and
threatened the Christians. The same day, the church
lock was broken, and the Cross removed from the prayer
hall in Dhavalidod.
July 16, 1998 (Gujarat): Zankhav village of Mangrol
taluka, Surat District: The Shantiniketan High School,
run by the Jesuit priests of the Loyola Education
Trust, was broken into and stoned on July 16. A
tractor was driven into the premises and the
playground for children was ploughed. Damage to the
tune of Rs. 15,000 was caused. The land in question
was the property of the late Shantilal Shah who handed
it over to the Loyola Education Trust to build a
school in 1984. The Fathers have been running the
school which caters to the tribal students of
neighbouring villages and the residents of Zankhav
town (out of the 720 students enrolled, 152 are
Christians and the rest belong to other religions).
The "Gujarat Samachar" and the "Sandesh" dailies, had
been systematically printing inflammatory and vicious
articles in Gujarati that the priests were forcibly
converting tribals to Christianity and that only
Christian children were being admitted into the
school. Two truck-loads of hooligans from the nearby
Wadi village were let loose in Zankhvav market the
next day . In the ensuing violence, the parents of
three students were arrested. Rather than take
punitive measures against the evil-doers, the Gujarat
State Government (BJP), seems to be a tacit endorser
of the destructive activities that have been carried
out and are being carried out to create fear among the
tribals and to paralyse the good work done by
Christian groups.
July 16 (New Delhi): Hindu politicians prepare bill
harmful to Christian education. The bill calls for all
schools to conform to the concept that India should be
a Hindu nation. It calls for the rewriting of India's
history books and the closure of non-Hindu religious
schools.
July 17 (Karnataka): Bajrang Dal conducts simultaneous
raids al over Karnataka, forcing their way into
Christian schools and Convents. Cluny convent,
Bangalore; the Sacred Heart Convent, Keshwapur, Hubli;
the St. Mary's Convent School, Christ the King Convent
School, Nirmala Convent School, St. Joseph's Convent
School and Carmel Convent School, all in Mysore; the
St. Joseph's Convent School and St. John's Convent
School in Mandya and the St. Joseph's Girl's High
School in Bellary reported such raids.
July (Karnataka): Bajrang Dal activists forced their
way into St. Mary's Convent School while the Assembly
was on and spat on the face of a nun who protested.
July 18, 1998 (Gujarat): In Bhapkal Village in Dangs
District, a prayer hall was burnt and Christians
harassed allegedly by one Bansha Bapu Pawar of the
same village.
July 18 (Tamil Nadu): Assemblies of God's church
believers and workers beaten and materials looted in
Anaaipalayam.
July 20, 1998 (Gujarat): Rajkot: Copies of the Holy
Bible (New Testament) were burnt by alleged VHP and
Bajrang Dal activists at the I.P. Mission School,
Rajkot. The miscreants claimed that the school
authorities, in connivance with the Gideon Society,
were trying to forcibly convert the children into
Christianity because on the last page of the New
Testament, readers were expected to sign a note
stating that they had accepted Jesus Christ as their
Saviour.
July 23, 1998 (Gujarat): Borkhal Village: revenue
Thallathi (official) Kalu Mana Gaikwad allegedly
connived with local Hindu activists and late at night
attacked and injured Adivasis who were at prayer in
the prayer hall. The adivasis were beaten up, and
later false cases filed against them.
July 23 (New Delhi): Delhi Government attempts to
close down churches because the serving of sacramental
wine violates liquor laws.
July 24 (Gujarat): In Isar, a small village 10 kms.
from Zankhav, where also the Catholic Priests are
working, a group of RSS and Bajrang Dal activists
attacked the Christians and terrorised them. They
added insult to injury by filing a case against the
Christians themselves resulting in the arrest of 14
Christians. Dhavalidod village :
July 25 (Gujarat): Hindu activists exhumed a buried
body of a Christian in Gandhinagar.
July 27, 1998 (Gujarat): Darapada village,, Christian
believer Ulus Ramji Pawar was attacked and killed
allegedly by one Dinesh Nana Bhoye of Darpada and
other, and a false complaint lodged against the
murdered man.
August 9 (Gujarat): Church demolished by RSS people in
Ahmedabad.
August 13 (Manipur): Two Catholic priests manhandled
by an Army Colonel.
August 15 (U.P.): O.M. workers distributing tracts in
Robertsganj were brutally assaulted by youth belonging
to the Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena, and VHP.
August 25 (West Bengal): Bikashdas of MCI assaulted by
Trinamool MP Sudip Bandhpadhyay in Calcutta,
August 31 (Bihar): A Catholic church demolished in
Kobatoli village in Gumla District.
September 5 (New Delhi): Bajrang Dal launches "Quit
India" campaign against Christian missionaries.
September 22 '98 - In a most shocking incident in
Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh, four of our Religious
Sisters were assaulted and gang-raped in the early
hours.
September23 '98 - A crowd led by the BJP MLA
Shailendra Pradhan attacked the parish house of Fr.
Edward Sarel, about 10 kms. from Jhabua. 24 September
'98 - a Clarist Convent in Baghpat (U.P.) was
attacked.
September 23 (U. P. ): Nuns in a Clarist Convent were
attacked in Bhagpat.
September 26 (UP): The subdivisional magistrate, Mr.
Yadav, along with the Police Station Officer, Mr. R.
D. Rai and Sub-inspectors Mr. Girija Singh and Mr.
Shri Ram Mishra along with seven policemen forced
their way into the Jiwan Jyoti Christian Hospital
Campus in Robertsganj. They threatened a group of
about 32 seekers and misbehaved with the medical
superintendent, Dr. (Mrs.) Monica Benjamin.
September 26 (U.P.): Activists of Hindu Jagran Manch,
Bajrang Dal and Rana Tharu Parishad broke into the
Union Church in Amaun, two kilometers east of Khatima,
in Udham Singh Nagar District. They put up an idol of
Shiva in the church and worshipped it for about two
hours.
September 26 (New Delhi): A Statue of St. Bernard was
hacked and thrown out of the compound of Jesus and
Mary College in New Delhi.
September 30 (New Delhi): Acharya Giriraj Kishor, the
Secretary-General of the VHP, warned Christian
missionaries to leave India.
October 7 (U.P.) : Christy Jyoti Convent Public School
threatened by villagers of Baghpat and Meerut
Districts.
October 10 '98 - BJP Government's Home Minister has
accused Mr. Houtsma of "Spreading superstition in our
society" and violating the rules under Bombay Police
Act by organising a Faith Healing session in Rajkot.
Police had issued a show cause notice to the Faith
Healer.
October30 '98- (Ayodhya) - The BJP dominated council
of Ayodhya last week passed a resolution banning
burial of the bodies within the municipal limits of
this historic town.
October 30 (Gujarat): Attack on delegates attending
the National Christian Conference in Baroda during the
9th Leadership Conference from 27th October to 1st
November 1998. They used sticks, belts, chains, and
fists to mercilessly beat up the delegates as they
were forced into the streets. Bibles and other
personal documents were snatched from their hands.
About 40 of those beaten up sustained injuries.
November 9 (Haryana): A Catholic convent was broken
into in Jhajjar District in Kheda Khummar Village and
two nuns, Sr. Daisy and Sr. Litsy were assaulted and
asked to leave the place.
November 11 (Gujarat) : In village Borigautha near
vaghai in Dangs district, miscreatns tried to burn
down a chapel. The miscreants also set fire to some
structures in the village and looted the people.
November 11 (Gujarat) : In Daghunia village near the
Saputara road in Dangs district, several Christian
tribals were beaten up including a sickly lady.
Several families were taken to Unai in forced to bathe
in the hot springs as a kind of `purification. ' The
woman and her husband were again terrorised and
assaulted. The elected sarpanch sided with the
miscreatns and has now decreed that the Christians
should not draw water from the village well, and
should not send thier cattle with the animals of other
villagers to the jungles to graze. In another decree,
the village Sarpanch had said the Christians would no
longer be given work in any government or government
aided project.
Sultan Battery (Kerala) Gospel workers that includes 4
women whom belongs to the St. Paul's Mission of India
was attacked by RSS workers. They were beaten brutaly
and their bibles were destroyed.
- Continuing harassment and violence against
Christians in Dharampur, South Gujarat: - Jamalpadam
village: Adivasi Christians of the village were beaten
up allegedly by VHP activists.
- Pipalyamal village. In complicity between police
officer Damor and local VHP activist Gamaj Gavli,
Christians have been routinely harassed and
threatened.
- Jarsol Village; The Gujarat Samachar, against which
the Christians have made several complaints, reported,
falsely, that Adivasi Christians of the village had
slaughtered and eaten a cow. False complaints were
filed by the police officer, G. M. Damor, and many
Christians were implicated and locked up
******************************************************************************
Anthony M Barreto aka Tony Martin
Freelance Writer and Author
Galgibaga, Canacona, Goa -- 403728
M: 9422390701 R: 91-0832-2632012
www.canacona.net
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