Tribal Christian families in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar threatened, beaten & forced to accept Hinduism
Bastar: Tribal Christian families in the Bastar division of Chhattisgarh, India, face escalating persecution, including violent assaults, property destruction, and forced reconversion ceremonies to Hinduism, forcing many to flee their ancestral villages.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Govind Mandavi and his family’s life has turned upside down after they were forced to leave their home and set out elsewhere to start a new life afresh.
Mandavi, 50, a resident of Badeparoda village under Badanji Police Station in Bastar is a native of the area. However, since 2023 and 2024, Mandavi and his family have been forced to leave their village due to threats from RSS and Bajrang Dal goons.
In 2017, Mandavi, his family, and about 15–20 more families accepted Christianity without any coercion. “Things were better before, however since the last two years RSS and Bajrang Dal have made our lives hell,” Mandavi told the media over the phone.
According to Mandavi, in 2024, he, along with three other families, was forced to leave the village due to continuous violent threats from the radical Hindutva groups. “They beat us up a lot as well. We were injured and in pain for days because they beat us up so brutally,” he added.
The families belong to the tribal Christian community and are farmers. “We are mere farmers tending to the land. Our faith is our own choice,” he said.
In 2025, United Christian Forum — a human rights advocacy group working to protect the rights of Christians and religious minorities in India — released a press statement expressing alarm over the ongoing situation in Chhattisgarh.
It said that all the cases, so far, follow a documented pattern of violence and hostility against Tribal Christians.
Cases in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Jharkhand reveal coordinated planning and attacks. Burials are becoming contentious and politically charged. Grieving families are forced to face violent mobs, forced exhumations, and forced conversions.
Amid this, Mandavi alleged that the goons demanded that they convert to Hinduism or leave the village altogether. “They asked us several times to do ghar wapsi and when we refused they threatened us, asking us to leave the village,” he said.
Due to continuous threats, more than 10 families renounced Christianity out of fear and accepted Hinduism. “We don’t blame them, the situation is so bad,” Mandavi added.
When Mandavi and others refused to convert, they were denied water. “Our borewells were broken and we did not have water to drink,” he added.
This forced the family to leave in 2024, and it was only recently — more than a year later — that the families decided to return. However, within three months, the intimidation and threats started again.
Mandavi’s case points to a larger pattern in which RSS and Bajrang Dal have allegedly used similar tactics to harass Tribal Christian families.
In a recent report by International Christian Concern, over 180 Christian families in 32 villages across Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district have reportedly been denied access to communal water sources and livelihood opportunities for the past three weeks as punishment for refusing to abandon their Christian faith.
Many Christian families in the Antagarh region of the district have been barred from using community rivers, ponds, taps, and hand pumps. At the same time, individuals have been denied work under a government employment scheme, and families have been prevented from collecting and selling forest produce.
In March 2024, the families were reportedly assaulted, their homes damaged, and they were forcibly driven out of the village.
In June 2024, they were attacked again, dragged to the panchayat office, beaten unconscious, and pressured to leave Christianity and accept Hinduism.
Their crops were destroyed, over 40 acres of produce were allegedly looted, and they were denied burial rights.
The United Christian Forum recorded 23 burial-related incidents in 2025 — Chhattisgarh (19), Jharkhand (2), and one each in Odisha and West Bengal.
Meanwhile, in 2024, around 40 such cases were reported — Chhattisgarh (30), Jharkhand (6), and others in Bihar and Karnataka.
One recent report also describes Christians being denied burial rights on ancestral land and a climate of fear among pastors and converts.
Additionally, families frequently lack access to a mortuary, transport, or the time required to undertake legal procedures while a body is decomposing at home. This practical hardship often prevents immediate complaints from being filed, which in turn allows authorities to record “no dispute.”
