Hindu Villages Vote to Strip Christians of Right to Bury Their Dead

Chhattisgarh, India — More than 400 people from 22 villages in the Kanker district of Chhattisgarh, India, gathered on October 5, 2025, deciding to strip Christians of their burial rights. The local Hindus had gathered to discuss how the growing number of conversions to Christianity in their region was affecting their cultural identity, customs, and traditions. By the end of the meeting, they decided to oppose Christian burial practices and deny believers access to burial land.

According to multiple sources, Chhattisgarh has the second-highest number of persecution incidents in India, with another northern state, Uttar Pradesh, boasting the most persecution incidents. In recent months, Kanker has become the hotbed of Hindu fanaticism, with multiple tribal villages adopting violent or non-violent methods to impede Christians from practicing their religious freedom guaranteed by India's Constitution.

International Christian Concern previously reported on six village councils in the same Kanker district that weaponized the autonomous authority granted to them by passing resolutions prohibiting the entry of Christian pastors, priests, and so-called "conversion agents" in their areas. Huge blue billboards were erected at the entrance of these villages with warnings written in the Hindi language. They declared the villages off-limits to Christian missionaries or evangelists, citing the constitutional provisions under the Fifth Schedule and the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, also known as the PESA. Christian advocacy groups have filed a public interest lawsuit against the billboards.

The Open Doors' 2025 World Watch List ranked India 11th among 50 countries where Christians face the most severe persecution, a sharp climb from a decade ago. In 2013, India ranked 31st, reflecting what Open Doors and other rights monitors describe as a significant deterioration in religious freedom for Christians under growing Hindu nationalism.

Manu, a 37-year-old day laborer in Chhattisgarh, came to faith in Jesus three years ago after experiencing a miraculous healing.

"I was thrown out of my house because I follow Jesus," Manu told International Christian Concern. Manu is one of the hundreds of Christians who have been evicted from their homes and banned from their villages in Chhattisgarh because of their faith in Jesus. Hindu nationalists, who want India to be a purely Hindu nation, are increasingly forcing Christians to become homeless and destitute. The goal of the violent attacks is to force the believers to return to Hinduism. Manu, his wife, and their two children have taken shelter in a temporary bamboo shed since May 21. "My children are getting sick ever since we moved into this shed," Manu said.

The persecution didn't end with the family losing their property. Hindu villagers also shunned the family, preventing them from purchasing products from certain vendors and hindering Manu from securing employment. "I was denied peaceful existence," Manu said. "People in the village knew I was socially boycotted, that they should not associate with me and my family. They knew that they should not employ me for any kind of daily wage work in the village. The little I earn goes towards medical expenses, and I struggle to provide sufficient food to my wife and children."

Vikram, his wife, and their five children faithfully followed Jesus in their Hindu-majority village in Chhattisgarh. Then, on June 16, village leaders confronted Vikram and told him that his family had to convert to Hinduism, or they would be banned from the village. When Vikram said that his family would not leave Christ, the leaders quickly called for a public gathering. During the meeting, one of the leaders officially declared that Vikram's family would be expelled from the village since they would not convert to Hinduism. Soon, a mob formed. The angry villagers stormed Vikram's home and threw his family's food and other belongings into the road. Some villagers abused the couple's three daughters.

Abishek, 31, was brutally attacked and forced out of his home with his 2-month-old daughter, not knowing where she would sleep that night. "I travel around 10 km (about 6 miles) to find a job, so that I can feed my family," Abishek said. "Almost every day when I travel, I think of my family back in the village. Wild thoughts haunt me of 'What if my family is attacked again? What if tortured in my absence?' When I pray to God, my heart is peaceful, and I am comforted through the messages I hear during the Sunday worship."

Amrita and her mother were violently attacked with sharp iron weapons by Hindu nationalists in Chhattisgarh on July 15, 2025. Amrita's mother sustained multiple fractures and is fighting for her life in an intensive care unit. With her mother in the hospital, Amrita and her siblings are staying in the home of another believer in a different village. "My brother and sister cannot go to school, as we were displaced to a different place," Amrita said. "We do not know how long we will stay here. One thing I am sure of is that we cannot go back to our village."

Suman and her brother Bima encountered severe persecution from their Hindu relatives when they converted to Christianity after a miraculous healing. Their sister Bindu was murdered by family members for following Jesus. After that day, the rest of the family left their home, fearing for their lives. Suman, Bima and their remaining Christian family members are now displaced from their home.

Converts from Hinduism to Christianity face the harshest persecution. They can be pressured to return to Hinduism by family, community and extremists who conduct reconversion campaigns such as Ghar Wapsi ("homecoming"). Converts frequently endure physical assaults and, in some cases, are killed.

THE CRUSADER'S OPINION

Four hundred Hindus voted to deny Christians the right to bury their dead. Not in ancient Rome. In India, October 2025. Village councils decided Christian corpses threaten Hindu identity, so families now can't bury loved ones in their own villages. Billboards warn pastors away like "No Trespassing" signs. Christians evicted, belongings dumped in forests, children sick in bamboo sheds.

India jumped from 31st to 11th worst for Christian persecution in a decade. That's not gradual decline—that's systematic erasure under Hindu nationalist governance. Families murdered by relatives for converting. Mothers beaten with iron weapons. Two-month-old babies sleeping in forests because their fathers won't renounce Christ.

When asked why he doesn't abandon faith, Manu—living in a shed with sick children—said: "Jesus gave me life, he gave me peace. I know it's all worth it." That's Christianity the comfortable West forgot. Not seeker-sensitive services. Faith that costs everything and refuses to break.

Western leaders call India a democratic partner while selling them weapons. Meanwhile, Indian Christians face the choice: renounce Christ or lose everything. Even burial plots. America embraces India strategically while Christians there can't bury their martyrs. When persecution becomes state policy, silence becomes complicity.

TAKE ACTION

Pray for Indian Christians facing violent persecution, forced displacement, and denial of basic rights. Pray for families like Manu's, Vikram's, Abishek's, Amrita's, and Suman's who've lost everything for Christ.

Contact Your Representatives:

• Urge Congress to condition U.S.-India relations on verified religious freedom protections
• Demand investigations into systematic persecution of Christians in India
• Push for sanctions against state governments enabling anti-Christian violence
• Call for India's removal from preferential trade status until religious freedom improves

Support Organizations Helping Persecuted Indian Christians:

• International Christian Concern - Direct aid and advocacy for Indian believers
• Open Doors - Supporting persecuted Christians in India
• Global Christian Relief - Relief for displaced Christian families
• Voice of the Martyrs - Aid for persecuted Indian Christians

Indian Christians are being erased village by village. They need voices, advocates, and a Church that refuses to stay silent while brothers and sisters are denied even the right to bury their dead.