Concerns are growing over the increasing number of COVID-19 cases as millions of Hindus gather at Uttarakhand for the Kumbh Mela, ignoring simple preventive measures such as wearing face masks and maintaining social distance.
The Supreme Court of India ruled last Friday that anyone over the age of 18 has the freedom to choose their religion, denying a petition for a federal law to prohibit religious conversion and black magic.
Religious leaders from the Christian, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh faiths joined CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan on his fast, urging everyone to wear masks, observe government protocols and maintain social distance to stay safe and prevent the virus from spreading.
A pastor from Madhya Pradesh was arrested on Easter Sunday for damaging religious sentiment by comparing Jesus Christ's salvation to revelations in the Vedas and Upanishads, holy Hindu scriptures, in a blog.
The Uttar Pradesh railway police arrested two men in connection with the harassment of nuns in Jhansi station during a train journey.
The country had previously seen a high of 97,894 daily cases in late September, but according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health, around 1,03,558 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours.
Christians in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district were forced to leave their village after being threatened with death if they did not return to their ancestral religion. A mob tracked them, beat them, and forced them to recant their faith and worship their tribal deities in a ceremony held on March 10, according to sources.
Many Christians are dissatisfied with the decision and have asked the state government, “Why can’t they allow the churches [to] have congregations during this holy times” while commercial malls, pubs, bars and cinema halls are permitted to operate as usual with no restrictions in place.
According to a recent Pew Research Center analysis based on the World Bank projections of the effect of COVID-19 on economic growth, “India added 75 million people to poverty, accounting for 60% of the rise in poor populations globally” in 2020.
Since last month’s military coup in Myanmar, thousands of refugees, including policemen and firefighters, have crossed borders to seek shelter in neighbouring countries like India and Thailand.
Gujarat is likely to introduce a Bill in the State Assembly this week to criminalize forcible or fraudulent religious conversion by marriage.
“Easter is about new beginnings, about hope for a better world. This is what the resurrection of Jesus teaches us. Hence, we have organized this rally that will see all Christians praying together in these troubled times. We hope the resurrected Lord listens to our prayers."
