Refusing burial space to Christians has become a new trend in villages in central and eastern India to pressure Chris-tians into abandoning their faith and to discourage others from associating with missionaries, say Christian leaders. “Christians, irrespective of any denomination, are aware of repeated cases of denial of burial space to tribal Christians in their own villages. It has become a trend now and a serious concern,” Archbishop Victor Thakur of Raipur told UCA News on May 22. The latest reported case was that of Ankalu Ram Potai, who died on May 13 in the village of Havechur, in Chhattisgarh state’s Kanker district. Reports said villagers opposed his burial in the local graveyard because he was a Christian. Potai, who was 55 years old, had converted to Christianity a few decades ago, which upset the Hindu villagers. They kept watch outside the dead man’s home throughout the night on May 13 to prevent his relatives from burying him in the darkness, local media reported. In the last two years, Chhattisgarh and Odisha states alone have reported at least 25 cases of Hindu villagers refusing to bury Christians because of their faith, Christian leaders say. According to Christian activist Arun Pannalal, Chhattisgarh has reported at least 15 such cases since 2023. “It is aimed at forcing people to abandon their Christian faith,” he told. Odisha reported at least 10 cases in the past year, according to rights activist Father Ajay Singh of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar archdiocese.

India’s Supreme Court has quashed two criminal cases against a top Christian educator and his friend in northern Uttar Pradesh state, declaring the cases an “abuse of the process of law.” The May 24 order of the top court in the country said the lower courts need to exercise their powers to examine if “the criminal proceedings are being misused as instruments of oppression or harassment.” The order quashed two police complaints and the resultant criminal trial proceedings against Vinod Bihari Lal, the director of Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology and Science, based in Prayagraj, formerly Allahabad. The cases were registered against Lal and his friend, David Dutta, another Christian residing in Allahabad, in 2018, accusing them of violating a state law banning gangster activities. The charges included economic offences, as well as engaging in activities that threatened “law and order” in society. The complaint states that Lal and Dutta comprise “an organized gang… proficient in the commission of economic crimes through fraud and deceit” and other criminal activities, according to court documents. The complaint said that through criminal activities, they both “accumulate wealth” and, due to the “fear and terror” surrounding them, “no one comes forward” to report their crimes or “muster courage to testify in court.” The Allahabad High Court, the state’s top court, on May 19, 2023, rejected Lal’s plea for relief and allowed the district court to proceed with the criminal trial. It forced Lal to appeal to the Supreme Court to clear his name of the allegations.

An influential Hindu orga-nization in India’s conflict-ridden Manipur state has called for an escalation in protests against the state administration, which Chri-stian leaders warn could jeo-pardize ongoing peace initia-tives in the region. The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), the top body of the majority Hindu Meiteis, ended a 48-hour protest on May 24. The protest demanded an apology from the state governor, Ajay Kumar Bhalla, for what they called an “insult to the identity of the state” to appease their rival, the Kuki-Zo tribal people. “The Meiteis are targeting the governor, practically challenging federal rule. They want to restore a popular government under their leadership,” a local Church leader told on condition of anonymity because he feared for his safety, on May 27. In the latest protest, Meiteis held Bhalla responsible for insulting the state by concealing the state name – Manipur – written on the Manipur State Transport bus that carried media persons to cover a local flower festival – the Shirui Lily festival – in Ukhrul district, a tribal dominated area. They also decided to escalate their protest and called for a “civil disobedience campaign” against federal rule under Bhalla.

A joint fact-finding team has uncovered widespread human rights violations against Dalit and Adivasi Christians in the Nabarangpur district of Odisha state in eastern India. The team, comprising the members of the Odisha Lawyers Forum and activists, visited the region April 26 and 27 and documented multiple cases of families being barred from burying their dead according to their Christian faith. In several instances, the victims were allegedly coerced into either renouncing their religion or “converting” the deceased to Hinduism in order to gain access to burial spaces, the team reported. Many of the violations have occurred within the Assembly constituency of the state minister for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Minorities, it pointed out.

“The Catholics of Kash-mir are praying incessantly for peace. They pray in churches and homes. And they are marching the streets alongside other people of goodwill, carrying lit torches to shine the light of God and the flame of reconciliation and peace,” said Bishop Ivan Pereira of Jammu-Srinagar, Fides news agency reported on April 29. The diocese has about 9,000 Catholics in the Indian administered Kashmir. The disputed region is administered partly by India and Pakistan. Tensions and diplomatic rows sparked between arch rivals India and Pakistan after armed terrorists killed 26 Indian tourists on the Indian side of Kashmir on April 22. Both countries have withdrawn their diplomats, revoked visas, banned the use of their airspace, and asked armed forces to remain fully prepared. Media reports of exchanges of fire between Indian and Pakistani soldiers have been reported. “We are experiencing a moment of tension and fear that is affecting the entire popu-lation,” Pereira told Fides. “We know there are cease-fire violations in the border area. And according to widespread reports, the Indian police have destroyed several houses belonging to militants and terrorists. This is not an easy time for us here, and many are reliving the night-mare of conflict,” he said.

Leaders of a group involved in ethnic-violence in India’s strife-torn Manipur state have criticized the federal government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for its inability to find a solution to the unrest, two years after it broke out. Ahead of the second anniversary of the outbreak of violence on May 3, the Hindu Meitei groups jointly said that New Delhi seems to lack interest in finding an amicable solution to the violence between them and the Kuki-Zo, a Christian majority tribal group. “The Indian government seems to differ in dealing with its citizens in different parts of the country,” said Athouba Khuraijam, convener of the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an influential body of Meitei civil society organizations. The Modi government in October last year imposed federal rule after the state government failed to end violence that has claimed 260 lives and displaced more than 60,000 people, mostly Kuki-Zo Christians. “Our fundamental rights and constitutional rights have been violated and suspended for two years,” Khuraijam told the media on April 29 in Imphal state. He said that federal rule has become “ineffective and symbolic.” People expected federal rule to bring law and order, “but instead, we have seen continued chaos.” The violence began on May 3, 2023, when Meitei people attacked a Kuki-Zo march protesting a Meitei demand for indigenous status. Indigenous status would allow the Meiteis, a politically and socially powerful group, to access benefits from the government’s affirmative action plans, including reserva-tions in government jobs and education, among other things, for the disadvantaged.

Archbishop Thomas Menam-parambil has urged Indian Church authorities to be more attentive to the diverse voices within and the needs of the new generation, while cautioning against a gradual decline in faith among Catholics in the country. Archbishop Tho-mas Menamparampil of Guwa-hati, in the northeastern state of Assam, warned Church authorities on May 10 about an impending fate similar to that of the Euro-pean Church, where priestless parishes, empty altars, and pews are sad realities. “Unless timely efforts are made to settle internal conflicts and indifference among the faithful,” the Church in India may face a similar fate in the future, Menamparampil said. The prelate was addressing some 4,800 priests, brothers, and nuns working as missionaries across the globe from the Diocese of Palai in the southern Indian state of Kerala on May 10, at the St Augustine’s Church compound in Pravithanam.

Pope Leo XIV is familiar with India, having visited the country twice and spent nearly a fortnight as prior general of the Order of St. Augustine, according to an Augustinian priest in India. Augustinian Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was elected pope and took the name Pope Leo XIV, visited several places in the southern Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu in 2004 and 2006, says Father John Bosco, who teaches at St. Augustine’s Study House in Aluva, central Kerala. In 2004, the Augustinian prior general’s programs included the ordination of six deacons, including the then Deacon Bosco. “I feel so great and blessed,” Bosco told on May 12, adding: “I never imagined the future pope was attending my priestly ordination.” “He is so down to earth and has great concern for the poor and those living in the periphery,” the priest said. “He likes to listen more rather than speak,” Bosco said. “As prior general of the order, he kept visiting houses of the order in as many countries as possible and made it a point to interact with as many people as possible, including the general public,” the Kerala-based priest recalled. During the 2004 visit, he spent time with people in Kerala. However, during his 2006 visit, he toured a school run by the order in Pollachi, a town in Coim-batore district in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

On April 30, the Indian government announced a decision that will reverberate through the nation’s social fabric for genera-tions: the upcoming national census will include comprehensive caste data for the first time since 1931. This watershed policy shift, declared by Federal Information Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, promises to reshape how India understands and addresses its most persistent social divisions. Since indepen-dence, India’s leaders have deliberately avoided counting caste in national censuses, except for Scheduled Castes and Tribes. The idealistic hope was that by not measuring caste, India might eventually transcend it. Reality proved more stubborn. Caste has remained a powerful force in Indian life – influencing marriages, job opportunities, political alliances, and educational access. The absence of data did not diminish caste’s impact; it only made addressing caste-based inequalities more difficult. For religious minorities, including Christians, the census represents both promise and uncertainty – a chance for greater visibility and inclusion, but also potential vulnerability in a political climate often charged with religious tensions. For all Indians, it offers a more honest reck-oning with social realities that have persisted despite decades of constitutional commitments to equality. In choosing to count caste after decades of avoidance, India acknowledges a fundamental truth: meaningful progress requires honest confrontation with social realities, however uncomfortable. If imple-mented with integrity and sensitivity to the complex interplay of religious and caste identities, the census could mark a significant step toward the more equitable and inclusive society that India’s founders envisioned.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) has condemned the terrorist attack on tourists in India’s Kashmir that killed 26 people and injured 17 others, expressing pain for families who lost their loved ones. Terrorists opened fire on tourists on April 22 in the famed Baisaran meadow, about 5 kilometers from the resort town of Pahalgam in Kashmir’s Anantnag district. The victims include two foreigners – from the UAE and Nepal – and two local people. Indian authorities described the attack as one of the deadliest in recent times, according to media reports. The bishops’ conference’s April 23 statement said: “We strongly condemn this heinous crime against humanity, which has targeted innocent lives, causing immense pain and suffering to families and loved ones.” The bishops’ body called it “a brutal act” and “a grave affront to human dignity and values,” while demanding that those responsible “be brought to justice.” It further appealed to those involved in violence to lay down their arms and embrace the path of peace. “Violence only breeds more violence, and it is high time for us to choose the path of love, compassion, and understanding,” it added. The bishops urged the Christian community across India to pray fervently for the repose of the souls of those who have lost their lives and for the speedy recovery of those injured in the attack. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short an official visit to Saudi Arabia after the attack and returned to New Delhi. He decried the “heinous act” and pledged that the attackers “will be brought to justice.” The deadly attack on tourists coincided with the April 21-24 visit of US Vice President JD Vance. He called it a “devastating terrorist attack.” US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, among other world leaders, condemned the attack and expressed solidarity with India. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the “armed attack,” stressing that attacks against civilians are unacceptable under any circumstances.