85 major anti-Christian incidents in 2015, claims NGO

NEW DELHI: Citing 85 major incidents of alleged persecution of Christians across 20 states last year, a report by a minority and human rights NGO says 2015 saw an unprecedented spike in "intolerance" against the community. The report says on an average India saw one such incident of hate crime against Christians a day last year.

While the report terms Madhya Pradesh as the worst state, followed by Telengana and Uttar Pradesh for such attacks, it calls Maharashtra the 'Hindutva capital'. Delhi too, the report says, is among the top 10 states that saw such incidents, with five Catholic churches vandalised and assaults on priests and community members. The Catholic Secular Forum (CSF) in its report claims that at least seven pastors were killed and 8,000 Christians (including 6,000 women and children) targeted in 2015. The report cites incidents from across the country -- from Arunachal Pradesh, where suspected Hindutva fundamentalists attempted to attack Christians and whip up mass hysteria by quoting the Census 2011 data, and Chhatisgarh, where there is an alleged ban on religious activities other than of Hinduism, to Himachal Pradesh where the CPWD wrote off the Shimla CNI Church as a government property, and Tamil Nadu, where Bibles were thrown on the road to incite community members and create tension.


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