MUMBAI – In India, police and a mob barged into a Christian family dinner gathering after members were accused of “forced conversion” in the state of Jharkhand.

According to a July 26 report in The Indian Express (TIE), when members of the Christian community were having dinner to mark the end of a 21-day fasting prayer, over 100 people, accompanied by police, barged into a Christian family dinner gathering at a Jamshedpur housing society, alleging that religious conversion was taking place.

However, police later said they found no evidence of conversion. Some residents of the housing society where the dinner was being held raised concerns over what they claimed were suspicious gatherings in two flats, where around 50 people were present, the report stated.

Jitu Lima, a pastor from the local church in Govindpur told TIE that 40-50 individuals, mostly relatives and acquaintances of church members from other states, were staying in two flats at during the fasting prayer period observed by their fellowship.

“No prayer meeting or religious activity was taking place at the time. The flats were being used only for lodging, and everyone had gathered for dinner as it was the concluding day. From small children to the elderly, everyone was present,” he said.

“Suddenly, a mob, along with police personnel, barged into the flats and began questioning the gathering. After about three hours of inquiry, they took six people to the police station,” Lima told the newspaper.

A church member, speaking on the condition of anonymity told TIE the group was harassed by the mob and that some were beaten after being taken to the Golmuri police station.

“For about three hours, we were confined to the room. At around 12.30 am, six of us, including me, were taken to the station. There, some of us were slapped and beaten,” he claimed. He alleged that a senior police officer beat them and asked them why they were “converting people.”

Golmuri Station House Officer (SHO) Rajendra Kumar said he was “not aware” of anyone being assaulted.

“I am not aware of that. I offered them water and treated them respectfully. It is possible that when I stepped out, someone from the society may have assaulted them,” Kumar said.

Jharkhand state has a large proportion of India’s marginalized tribal people, who exist outside of Hinduism’s traditional caste system, and many of them become Christian – Jharkhand has a Christian population of over 4 percent, double the national average.

The state is currently ruled by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) party, but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has previously ruled the state. The BJP is the ruling party of India, and is a promoter of Hindu nationalism – and religious minorities often accuse it of discrimination.

Father Ajaya Kumar Singh, a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar and a civil rights activist. He is known for his involvement in advocating for the rights of Christians in Kandhamal, particularly after the 2008 anti-Christian violence.

“What happened in Jamshedpur is outrageous. A peaceful Christian family dinner was invaded by police and a mob, all over a rumour of conversion. This is not just harassment — it’s a warning sign,” he said.

“We are witnessing the slow but steady dismantling of our constitutional guarantees. Freedom of religion and the right to assemble peacefully are not optional — they’re protected rights. Yet, time and again, anti-social elements, emboldened by political silence and police complicity, violate these rights with impunity,” Singh added.

“This didn’t happen in a BJP-ruled state. That should scare us more. It means hate is not confined to one party—it’s being enabled across the board,” the priest continued.

“We must demand accountability. We must protect our minorities. We must prevent another Kandhamal from ever happening again. We must stop the Persecution of Christians and we must speak up before another Kandhamal happens,” he said.

Kandhamal is a district of the eastern Indian state of Odisha, formerly known as Orissa, where an orgy of violence descended upon the impoverished Christian minority in August 2008. A series of riots led by radical Hindus left roughly 100 people dead, thousands injured, 300 churches and 6,000 homes destroyed, and 50,000 people displaced, many forced to hide in nearby forests where more died of hunger and snakebites.

AC Michael, the National Coordinator of United Christian Forum, India (UCF India) said these kinds of false accusations by the mob accompanied by police “are becoming a norm in our country because of political patronage.”

“If the trend is not stopped immediately, it will threaten the identity and existence of the Indian Christian community in their motherland” he told Crux.

“Across India incidents of violence against Christians have become the hotspots of viral hate, brutal mob violence, rampant social Ostracization in which elements of the law and justice apparatus are complicit,” Michael said.