India

On Feb. 7, armed Hindu extremists in India reportedly beat church members during a worship service and then pressured police to arrest more than 20 Christians on suspicion of forcible conversion.

Local officials and other tribal animists in a village in eastern India locked council doors, tied up pastor Lakshman Oraon and beat him for more than an hour, but he kept praising God, he said.

A family in Indian was banished from their village this year after they refused to recant their Christian faith.

Police in southern India have reportedly filed false charges against a church pastor after tribal animists assaulted him for his faith so severely that he was hospitalized for two days.

A woman who was eight months pregnant was just one of many Christians attacked by a Hindu extremist mob in Central India. The woman, Leela Bai, was knocked unconscious and lost her baby.

A mob of 15 to 20 Hindu extremists earlier this month assaulted men, women and children of Heavenly Gospel Mission Church in Shahjahanpur District, with some saying, “We will continue to hit you until you abuse and curse Jesus,” church members said.

Last month, six Christian families in East India were worshipping in a wood-and-hay structure when an influential man of wealth wielding an axe led others in and, in coarse language, asked why they had abandoned their tribal religion.

A Korean Christian and three Indian nationals were arrested in Uttar Pradesh state, India for allegedly attempting to convert people while they distributed food and other aid to people in need due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Christian persecution watchdog Release International is projecting that the persecution of Christians will increase in China and India in 2021.

A pastor in India was beaten unconcious and left for dead in a locked room by Hindu extremists.