India: Christians attacked by mob and arrested

International Christian Concern (ICC) reported that on 11 February 2021 Christians in Meral village, Jharkhand State, were brutally attacked by a mob of about 30 Hindu nationalists who accused them of constructing an unauthorized church and converting people to Christianity. Three Christians were seriously injured. Following the attack, local police filed FIR No. 20/21 against 12 Christians that were attacked by the mob, and three Christians were arrested immediately and imprisoned. Rolf Zeegers, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, sees this as yet another example of the high level of impunity that Hindu extremists in India enjoy: "Local Christians seem convinced that the attack was pre-planned. It also seems clear that the police made no attempt to end the fighting and waited before arresting not the attackers but the victims of the violence. Jharkhand is one of the states in India that have anti-conversion legislation. Radical nationalists often misuse these controversial laws to harass and intimidate Christians."