Hindu fanatic groups have been accused of making videos of persecution of Christians across India and circulating them on social media. Shibu Thomas of Persecution Relief said most incidents are recorded in states run by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but the highest number has been reported in the northern State of Uttar Pradesh.
He said numerous videos of Christians being persecuted by religious radicals are being widely circulated on social media, with Facebook alone having a network of 33 million users in India.
These videos are especially uploaded on groups run by Hindu fanatics and then spread to other social media platforms like Twitter and WhatsApp.
These videos aim at inciting hatred and defaming the Christian minority by making false allegations against them, mostly involving religious conversion, Thomas said.
The latest incident was reported from Uttar Pradesh, where a video clip shows two Christian men being stopped by fanatics on a street.
Fanatics are seen questioning a Christian who identifies himself as Jung Bahadur and accusing him of converting a woman standing beside him, but the woman immediately denies the accusation.
In 2019 alone, it recorded 527 cases compared with 447 in 2018, 440 in 2017 and 330 in 2016. From January 2016 to June 2020, Persecution Relief recorded 2,067 cases of persecution against Christians.