Radical Hindus prevent construction of church in India
Hindus have stopped the construction of a church in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. A mob erected a concrete wall that blocked the entrance to the compound where the church was being built.
Members of the mob also recently disrupted a Christian prayer meeting in the area on Aug. 21.
in an interview with UCA News, Christian community member Samuel Das said the extremists "wanted us to demolish the building after we finished more than half of the construction." He further stated that they brought the matter to the local police and district officials but no one came to help them.
"The situation in this area is so bad that if you want to be a Christian, you will have to prepare to be martyred," said Das. "The Hindu activists have a free hand to do anything they want to do as the police and the administration back them," he added.
The Chhattisgarh Catholic Council issued a press release last week and expressed anguish over recent attacks and unlawful actions against the Christian community.
"We urge the state government to take stern action against those responsible and to prevent recurrence of such incidents," said the council in its statement. "The role of police is not impartial as it often seemed to be under pressure from these groups. They register cases without proper investigation," it continued.
The Evangelical Fellowship of India's Religious Liberty Commission (EFIRLC) recently released a report detailing the increasing attacks against Christians in India. The report stated that the attacks in the first half of 2016 have already reached 133 while noting that there were 147 and 177 reported cases in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
The report also mentioned Chhattisgarh as one of the Indian states that has a history of anti-Christian policies as well as non-state agencies that target the Christian community.
To address the issue, the EFIRLC called on the Indian government for proper legislation against religious minorities.
