Police hospitalize Christians attacked in India’s Odisha state
Hindu leader says attack ‘a spontaneous reaction’ of people against forcible conversion of Hindus
Updated: June 23, 2025 12:29 PM GMT
Police in eastern India hospitalized seven Christians on June 21 after a group of Hindus clashed with Christians in Odisha state, where anti-Christian attacks have increased in the past year.
Of those admitted to the government-run Malkangiri District Hospital, “two were in a serious condition, but not critical,” Police Inspector Rigan Kindo of Malkangiri Police Station told UCA News on June 23.
“Some have already been discharged” after receiving treatment for a day or two, the officer said.
He said the attack broke out when a group of Christians was returning home after prayers at the church. Some of the Hindus surrounded Christians and questioned their allegiance to Christianity.
In the ensuing clashes, “some people suffered injuries. We are investigating the matter,” Kindo said.
Christian leaders said that the Koya tribal Christians in the village gathered for prayer and offerings to celebrate the year’s first harvest, a practice observed annually in their church.
However, non-Christian tribal villagers objected to Christians following what they considered a tribal custom and disrupted their prayer ceremony, according to Bishop Pallab Lima, who heads a network of churches.
Kotamateru village has some 70 households, but only 11 of them are Christian, said the bishop, who heads the United Believers Council Network of India (UBCNI).
Kindo, the police officer who investigates the incident, said the dispute began among three brothers — one a Christian and the other two Hindus. “The Hindu brothers were pressuring his Christian sibling to return to the Hindu faith.”
Bishop Lima told UCA News on June 23 that at least 30 Christians were injured when a mob of 150 to 200 Hindus attacked them with sickles and lathis.
Lima said, “It was the first time the police acted swiftly after a Christian leader called them.” Police promptly visited the village, rescued the injured, and admitted them to the hospital.”
Bijay Pusuru, president of Malkangiri Christian Manch (forum), who filed the police complaint, demanding the arrest of the attackers, said Christians and Hindus lived together in the village for decades, but “the sudden eruption of violence is shocking.”
‘Part of a strategy’
Sibapada Mirdha, the district head of the Hindu group Bajrang Dal, stated that the attack was “a spontaneous reaction” of Hindus in the area, who have been opposing the forcible conversion of Hindus.
Mirdha told the media that no Hindu groups were involved in the attack.
In another incident, 23 Christian families in Rangamatia village, in the state’s Keonjhar district, sought police assistance to stop social ostracism from Hindus, which aimed to coerce them into converting to Hinduism.
Police visited the village on June 22 and asked Hindu villagers to maintain a distance from Christians “until a final resolution is reached.”
Bishwanath Jena, a Buddhist and activist of the Dalit rights, who complained to the police, said that Christians have faced a sustained socio-economic boycott for over a month.
This was allegedly at the behest of the Bajrang Dal, pressuring them to abandon their Christian faith, he said.
The boycott included denial of work in the fields, access to grocery shops and community participation.
Jena said the Hindu activists should not be allowed “to take the law into their hands.”
“The Indian constitution guarantees every citizen the freedom to profess, practice and propagate a religion of choice,” the Buddhist leader told UCA news.
Lima said Christians also submitted a memorandum to the top police officer in the district that these “acts of violence and intimidation against any religious community are a serious breach of law and order and a direct assault on the fundamental rights” guaranteed in the constitution.
The memorandum from Malkangiri district Christian Munch (forum) urged the administration “to take swift and decisive action” to address the violations and take effective intervention for peace in the area.
Father Ajay Kumar Singh, a priest of the archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, told UCA News that the attack was not isolated but should be viewed as part of a strategy and a series of anti-Christian assaults in the state.
Christian leaders say attacks on Christians have increased since last June, when the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took power in the state. Hindu groups who support the party consider the victory a mandate to push their idea of making India a Hindu nation, they say.
Odisha recorded 40 incidents of attacks against Christians in 2024, according to data released by United Christian Forum, a New Delhi-based ecumenical body that tracks cases of persecution against Christians in India.
On June 9, Christians took to the streets in 25 of Odisha’s 30 districts to protest against their persecution.
Christians make up 2.77 percent of the state’s 42 million people, over 90 percent of whom are Hindus and indigenous people.
