A Christian pastor and his wife have been released on bail after spending 20 months in an Indian prison, highlighting the ongoing persecution of Christians under anti-conversion laws that have led to the detention of more than 1,000 believers across the country.
Twenty people have died in the past two weeks as ethnoreligious violence resurges in India's northeastern state of Manipur, where Christians and Hindus remain locked in a devastating conflict that has displaced more than 60,000 people since May 2023.
Christian leaders in India are decrying a threat made by a Hindu fundamentalist group that wants to ban Christian symbols in schools, including crosses, statues and religious dress.
Five months ago, life was turned upside down for a 77-year-old Christian grandmother and widow from India. While away visiting her daughter in May, Nemniang Vaiphei’s region of Manipur was plunged into riots, arson, chaos, and deadly bloodshed following the outbreak of violence between rival ethnic groups, the Meitei and the Kuki.
