New Delhi: Kunika Kashyap was on her way home after checking in on an ailing relative when she was allegedly attacked by the sarpanch of Badebodal village. “He kept choking me and hitting me continuously,” Kunika told ThePrint over the phone.
She was taken to the nearest government hospital where several tests and an ultrasound later, doctors found out that Kunika was six-weeks pregnant. “Everybody gets married to have a family. Our family was just about to start and he [sarpanch] ended it,” said her husband Mandu, referring to the miscarriage Kunika says she suffered after the assault.
Kunika’s is among the five Christian families in Badebodal. She and her husband claim the attack was reprisal—for raising their voice about targeted violence against Christians in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district. “We are often told we are trying to convert Hindus to Christianity and we don’t want to live peacefully with them. This is not true,” said Kunika.
Inspector Umesh Patil from the Nagarnar police station told ThePrint that a First Information Report (FIR) has been filed against the sarpanch and his wife. “We are currently investigating the miscarriage and are asking the hospital for Kunika’s medical reports. No arrests have been made till now,” he told ThePrint.
Bastar Superintendent of Police Shalabh Kumar Sinha too said the police have sought Kunika’s medical reports and will refer to them to decide on how to proceed in the matter.
Recalling the incident from 2 January, Kunika said as she was stepping out of a relative’s house, she saw sarpanch Ganga Ram Kashyap recording a video of her. She asked him why he was doing so and he responded by allegedly assaulting her; his wife and daughter too joined in. Kunika said her husband’s cousin rushed her to the hospital.
According to the 25-year-old, the doctors later informed her that she was pregnant. But the feeling of bringing a new life into the world was to be short-lived.
Kunika said she endured extreme bleeding on the night of 3 January, after which doctors told her she had suffered a miscarriage. “I saw my baby in the first sonography. Then the baby was dead in the second sonography. I don’t know how to process it.”
She and her husband blamed the sarpanch for their loss, claiming that while they have filed a complaint, the police are yet to act on it. “Ganga Ram has big contacts. Nobody will be able to harm him,” said Mandu, who earns a living painting houses. He added that Ganga Ram has been the sarpanch of Badebodal village for about five years now.
‘Situation is very tense’
A second-generation Christian, Kunika believes she was attacked for her religious identity. Her late father, a Dalit Hindu, embraced Christianity a few years after she was born. “My father, a Dalit man, was in extreme distress. It forced him to convert,” said Kunika.
Her husband Mandu converted to Christianity about two years ago when he started attending church. By this time, Mandu’s brothers were already practicing Christians. “Before converting, I was constantly troubled,” he said.
At the time of the alleged assault on his wife, Mandu said he was at the Chhattisgarh High Court along with other local Christians for the hearing of a case related to denial of burial to an old Christian woman from the village.
Salim Hakku, a pastor from Badebodal, said local supporters of a Right-wing outfit had objected to the woman’s burial which led to violent clashes between several pastors and a group led by sarpanch Ganga Ram. A curfew was also imposed in the aftermath of the clashes, he told ThePrint. Adding, “Right now the situation is very tense. They are not allowing worship in the churches. There are many believers and pastors in Badebodal. They are manipulating the villagers and now everyone is against Christians here.”
Hakku further alleged, “They don’t allow dead bodies of Christians to be buried. They are not allowing us to even pray in churches or homes. The situation is so bad that Christians are not allowed to fetch water from wells, work in MGNREGA, or fetch ration from shops.”
Arun Pannalal, president of Chhattisgarh Christian Forum (CCF), said Christians make up 15 percent of the state’s population—as opposed to 1.92 percent as stated in the 2011 Census. “Among these, there are 3 percent traditional Christians who have always been following Christianity. After that there are converted Christians who amount to people who amount to about 1.2 to 1.5 percent. The remaining 10.5 percent are not certified or declared Christians,” he told ThePrint over the phone.
The process of “legal conversion” includes two stages: baptism followed by filing an affidavit with the district collector.
Pannalal said data secured by CCF through an RTI showed only 35 people in Chhattisgarh legally converted to Christianity in 2024. These conversions were recorded in five districts, namely Dantewada, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Jagdalpur, and Sukma. “Government will have to make a rule for the identification of these 10.5 percent of the citizens. The government is bound to declare whether these people continue to be called Hindus or Christians,” he said.
‘Can’t even bury their dead’
The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), a national alliance of evangelical Christians, claims to have recorded more than 720 incidents of attacks on Christians across India till mid-December last year. The United Christian Forum (UCF), a non-profit working for the rights of religious minorities, recorded 760 such incidents till the end of November.
On conversions, activist John Dayal said, “When you talk of conversion, are you saying the Constitution does not allow freedom of faith? Are you saying freedom of faith does not allow giving up religion? Are you saying freedom of faith does not allow changing religion?”
Echoing pastor Hakku’s views, Dayal said Christians in Chhattisgarh have to endure attacks on churches and sometimes even their homes, besides “ostracisation” in society, particularly in tribal areas. “They are not allowed to stay, or own land, they are not allowed food, where the government sanctions them, or worse, they can’t even bury their dead.”
EFI general secretary Vijayesh Lal was of the opinion that the term conversion itself is now looked upon with suspicion. “We have always said churches don’t believe in forced or fraudulent conversions,” he said, adding that even talking about their faith in public has become risky at this point. The Constitution recognises the right to preach, practice, and propagate a religion, he said, adding that it is “not an absolute right and subject to certain conditions like public order and morality; and we fully recognise that”.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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The Print would never report on the atrocious vandalism and attacks on Ramakrishna Mission school in Meghalaya by Christians. From the chain of events that transpired at Mawkynrew village (near Shillong),, it is abundantly clear that the local Christian church leaders were the ones who instigated the villagers to indulge in violence and vandalism targeting the under-construction school. This has resulted in severe injuries to policemen and members of the mob which attacked. Curfew has been clamped for several days now as there is a grave threat to the safety and security of the Hindus in the district (East Khasi Hills).
The Print’s north-eastern reporters would not write articles on it and brush it under the carpet as a minor incident – not worth taking note of.
It is such duplicity and hypocrisy which makes many people not subscribe to The Print. Under the guise of “un-hyphenated journalism”, this is just good old-fashioned secular-liberal cabal at work.
The Christian missionaries create trouble wherever they go. The church, as an institution, is very insecure and always finds a way to get into conflict with other religious denominations.
Take the example of Meghalaya. The venerable Ramakrishna Mission was building a school in a village named Mawkynrew near Shillong. Certain anti-social elements from the nearby villages, instigated by the local church leaders, launched an all out attack on the under-construction school resulting in extensive destruction of property. The issue flared up, mobs clashed with police and this resulted in injuries to scores of people and policemen.
The crux of the issue was that the local church was deeply insecure about the Mission constructing a school for the underprivileged rural children.
May the heart of sarpanch be touched by Jesus. He does not know what he has done by taking an innocent life. May God forgive him.