Tag: India

Radicals in Northern India Threaten to Kill Christian Family

According to Morning Star News, a 12-year-old Christian boy and his brother in Uttar Pradesh received a death threat at late hours of the night on June 18 from a group of radical Hindu nationalists led by his uncle. The threats started after the boys’ family refused to renounce their Christian faith.


According to Morning Star News, a 12-year-old Christian boy and his brother in Uttar Pradesh received a death threat at late hours of the night on June 18 from a group of radical Hindu nationalists led by his uncle. The threats started after the boys’ family refused to renounce their Christian faith.

“It was past 11’o clock at night when we heard them banging on the door and shouting,” the Christian boy told Morning Star News. “Five men, along with my uncle, were standing at the door, issuing threats that they would murder my brother and me.”

The boys’ father, Anil James, works 116 miles away in Delhi. The COVID-19 lock-down has kept him from returning home, leaving the family vulnerable to attack. The boys’ terrified mother, Molly James, told her two sons to run to the police station while she locked the doors and would catch up with them later.

“My brother and sister have portrayed me as a bad woman in this Hindu neighborhood for accepting Christianity,” Molly James told Morning Star News. “They have been trying to expel my family from the area for the past three years.”

After Molly and her sons arrived at the police station, officers made sure they returned to their home safely.

The next day, police went to investigate the issue. Molly’s brother and sister told the police that the death threats were actually a property dispute in an attempt to avoid police involvement. Later that day, Molly’s brother threatened her again, saying he would kill her and her two children.

Prior to the June 18 incident, Molly’s siblings demanded she resume Hindu rituals and stop worshiping Christ to continue living in her home. They also have objected to her oldest son rehearsing Christian worship music on his guitar.

“Since the coronavirus pandemic started spreading, he is doing it all the more to scare us,” Molly told Morning Star News of her brother. “He also tells the neighbors and his friends that we belong to the lower class and that Christianity is the religion of lower castes and classes. The neighbors also look down on my children, calling them lower class, so that it affects them mentally. They had been very outspoken about their faith at school and among their friends. I’m afraid that witnessing this amount of violence and aggression, and their fear, would affect them.”

Blogs to Follow:

Persecution.org (June 2020) Radicals in Northern India Threaten to Kill Christian Family

American Pastor Detained in India Finally Freed


Prosecution Drops Charges and Allows Pastor to Return Home after Seven-Month Detention

On Tuesday, the International Christian Concern (ICC) has reported that Pastor Bryan Nerren, an American pastor detained in India since October 2019, is now free to return home to his family in the United States.

This news brings to an end a seven-month legal ordeal that began with Pastor Nerren being falsely accused of violating India’s Foreign Exchange Management Act.

According to the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), the charges against Pastor Nerren were dropped, and the prosecution withdrew its case on Friday, May 15.

The judge overseeing Pastor Nerren’s case lifted the travel ban that has kept Pastor Nerren in India since October 2019, allowing him to return to the United States and reunite with his family.

On October 5, 2019, Pastor Nerren and two other pastors from Tennessee arrived in India to attend conferences in India and Nepal. The ACLJ reported that Pastor Nerren was targeted and arrested by Indian customs agents after he told them he was a Christian.

When the three pastors arrived in New Delhi, Pastor Nerren was detained by customs agents while proceeding through the domestic security check for a flight to Bagdogra.

According to the ACLJ, Pastor Nerren was carrying funds to cover the expenses of two conferences and the two-week trip for himself and the other pastors.

Customs agents questioned Pastor Nerren about the funds and their usage for about an hour.

According to the ACLJ, customs agents specifically asked Pastor Nerren if he was a Christian and if the funds would be used to support Christian causes.

After fully explaining the usage of the funds, the customs agents told Pastor Nerren that he was free to go. However, when Pastor Nerren arrived in Bagdogra, he was arrested for violating India’s Foreign Exchange Management Act and transported to Siliguri, where he was incarcerated for six days and not allowed any visitors, including visitors from the US Consulate.

Pastor Nerren was able to secure bail after six days in jail. However, the judge overseeing his case retained Pastor Nerren’s passport and ordered a travel ban on the American pastor.

Until the charges against him were dropped last Friday, Pastor Nerren was effectively trapped in Siliguri.

Religious intolerance and instances of persecution have steadily escalated in India since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a political party founded on a Hindu nationalist ideology, took power in 2014.

According to the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), 147 instances of religiously motivated violence against Christians were documented in 2014.

In 2019, after five years of BJP rule, EFI recorded 366 instances of religiously motivated violence against Christians.

William Stark, ICC’s Regional Manager for South Asia, said, “We here at International Christian Concern are happy to see that the false charges against Pastor Nerren dropped and that he is free to return home to his family. What is most concerning about Pastor Nerren’s case is how customs officials targeted him after he told them he is a Christian. No one should be targeted for any abuse because of their religious identity, especially in India. According to Article 25 of India’s constitution, individuals are free to profess, practice, and propagate their choice of religion. It seems that this constitutional protection was not given to Pastor Nerren. Instead, he was forced to endure seven months of detention in India because he identified himself as a Christian.”

For interviews, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: press@persecution.org

Persecution.org (May 2020) American Pastor Detained in India Finally Freed

Pro-ISIS Media Outlet Publishes Magazine To Incite Violence In India

On February 24, 2020, pro-ISIS media outlet Al-Qitaal Media Center published a new online magazine titled “Voice of Hind” featuring Mahmood Paracha, a lawyer accused of inciting hatred and violence in India.


Terror Group Seeks To Further Inflame Tensions Between Muslim & Hindu Populations

On February 24, 2020, pro-ISIS media outlet Al-Qitaal Media Center published a new online magazine titled “Voice of Hind” featuring Mahmood Paracha, a lawyer accused of inciting hatred and violence in India.

The magazine also states that there is no place for nationalism in Islam, and that India’s Muslims should join the caliphate instead. The publication represents ISIS’s latest effort to gain a foothold in India.

Voice of Hind emerged in the midst of large scale sectarian violence fueled by the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which critics believe discriminates against India’s Muslims. The CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) now include religion as a criterion for nationality, representing a move away from India’s founding principle of secularism.

The new legislation provides a path for citizenship for practicing Hindus and five other South Asian religions—Buddhism, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism, and Zoroastrianism—but does not include Islam.

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Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reelection in May, his administration has largely endorsed a Hindu identity for the country and has demonstrated hostility towards secularism and Islam. The magazine, which seeks to exploit tensions, calls for Indian Muslims to join ISIS and praises individuals who have already done so or have committed attacks in the group’s name.

Though India banned ISIS in 2014, the Modi government has expressed concern about the group’s ability to attract members through online propaganda. The terrorist group has not made major headway in the country.

However, Indian security agencies have arrested more than 127 individuals with suspected links to ISIS.

Counterextremism.com (March, 2020) Pro-ISIS Media Outlet Publishes Magazine To Incite Violence In India