Christian Families Evicted, Roofs Torn Off Homes in India's Chhattisgarh, ICC Says
A ministry says villagers in Kanker and Sukma districts drove out believers who would not give up their faith, leaving a pastor and two families without shelter.
See where this is ›KANKER, India —
A Christian family in Chindpal village, in the Durgkondal area of Chhattisgarh's Kanker district, was forced out of its house on Oct. 24 and its belongings thrown outside after the family refused to renounce its faith, International Christian Concern (ICC) reported Oct. 27.
See where this is ›About 10 days earlier, in Deorpalli village of Gorgunda Panchayat in Sukma district, attackers pulled the metal tin roofs off a pastor's house and off four houses belonging to two Christian families, leaving them exposed and homeless, the Washington-based ministry said. ICC did not give the exact date of that attack.
ICC said the two cases are only a few of those documented in the state's tribal belt and that many others go unreported. Human rights workers told the ministry the attacks come after Christians refuse to take part in tribal and traditional rituals, and that believers face village social boycotts and customary penalties, including pressure over collective worship and funeral rites.
Pastor Negi, who is helping displaced believers, described the situation to ICC as a “grave humanitarian and civil rights crisis.”
According to ICC, police arrive quickly when trouble starts but mostly provide short-term crowd control, and displaced families are left with no lasting legal protection. The ministry also charged that attackers act with the “tacit support” of the state government, which is led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The report did not include any response from police or state officials, and Watchman News has not independently confirmed the details.
India's constitution guarantees freedom of religion in Article 25. Chhattisgarh has been a center of tension between tribal Christians and their neighbors; India's Supreme Court is separately weighing tribal Christians' challenge to the state's anti-conversion law.
