Between 25 and thirty Christians were injured, including a pastor and his pregnant wife, when a crowd of extremists attacked a worship gathering in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh on Sunday 31 May.
A Barnabas Aid contact reported that eight individuals sustained severe head injuries and that their condition is critical. Some of the injured received treatment at a primary health centre in Tongpal, while others were referred to the district hospital in Sukma.
The congregation of around seventy Christians had gathered for Sunday morning worship in Sadrapal, a village in Sukma district, when a group of local people disrupted the meeting and attacked participants. Witnesses said several worshippers including Pastor Hunga Mandavi, who was leading the service, were beaten. Church members expressed particular concern over the attack on Pastor Mandavi’s pregnant wife and said that the attack left many local Christians fearful and traumatised.
Christian leaders in the area rejected suggestions that the violence arose from a land dispute and said it was motivated by hostility toward their faith and religious activities.
Pastor Simon Digbal Tandi, coordinator of the Progressive Christian Alliance (PCA), a network of pastors, church leaders and social workers, told UCA News on 2 June that attacks against Christians have increased since Chhattisgarh’s revised anti-conversion law was passed in March 2026. He stated, “Almost every other day, we hear of such incidents in the state, and this can disturb communal harmony in local communities. Christian people are very worried.”
The poster (left) was designed by Church in Chains’ partner organisation Persecution Relief to draw attention to the situation in Chhattisgarh and remind observers that although “faith is not a crime” Christians are being attacked, churches destroyed and families terrorised.
The Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion Act 2026 replaces a 1968 law and introduces stricter regulations and harsher penalties for religious conversions deemed to have been carried out through force, coercion or fraud. Anyone wishing to convert must first gain official permission and religious leaders must report conversions or risk imprisonment. Such laws are intended to stop Hindus being converted to other religions but extremists use them as a licence to attack Christians, claiming they are forcing Hindus to convert.
Calls for prompt and impartial investigation
Pastor Tandi of the PCA said a First Information Report had been filed in the Sadrapal case and several individuals were named in the complaint. The affected families have called for a fair investigation and legal action against those responsible, and Christian leaders and human rights advocates have urged the authorities to conduct a prompt and impartial investigation, ensure the safety of victims and witnesses, provide adequate medical care to the injured and take steps to prevent similar incidents.
Barnabas Aid’s contact said, “We respectfully urge the authorities to take immediate and effective measures to restore law and order, ensure the safety of vulnerable communities, and bring those responsible for such acts of violence to justice.”
Family attacked in Sukma in April
Barnabas Aid reported that another attack took place in Sukma district in April, when a mob of extremists beat a married couple and their two children (Sodi Motu, Sodi Paike, Vetti Shanthi and Madvi Mangl) after they refused to abandon their faith.
The attack took place in Asrith village on 14 April when the attackers attempted to force the family to undergo Ghar Wapsi, a ceremony of reconversion to Hinduism. The Christians were left with serious injuries and received treatment at Sukma Government Hospital. The extremist group had reportedly targeted the family two years previously and a police complaint was filed at that time, but the case has not yet been heard in court.
(Barnabas Aid, Persecution Relief, UCA News )
Photo: Progressive Christian Alliance via UCA News
Poster: Persecution Relief