By Vishal Arora
Three independent fact-finding missions conducted in Odisha between March and April 2025 have pointed to an alarming rise in targeted attacks, coercion and violations of constitutional rights against Christians—especially Adivasi and Dalit communities.
The teams, comprising lawyers, activists and researchers, visited Nabarangpur, Gajapati and Balasore districts and documented repeated instances of burial denials, forced conversions, police brutality and institutional failure, according to the reports sent to Newsreel Asia by Ajaya Kumar Singh, an independent law scholar and researcher who was part of the three missions.
In each case, the reports found that Christians were being systematically intimidated, their religious freedoms curbed and their basic rights violated — often with no action from local authorities.
Nabarangpur
In Nabarangpur, the fact-finding team documented at least eight cases between 2022 and 2025 where Christian families were denied the right to bury their dead. In several incidents, bodies were exhumed, desecrated or forcibly “converted” to Hinduism before burial.
In one case, the body of Saravan Gond, a young Christian man, was stolen after burial despite alleged police presence. His family was physically assaulted and driven out, and to date, they do not know what was done with the remains.
“The deceased’s mother and minor sister, who tried to intervene, were also beaten. The mob chased, disrobed, and assaulted them while hurling caste- and religion-based abuses,” reads the report.
In multiple villages, Christian families were forced to bury loved ones in remote forests or distant cemeteries because local Hindu nationalist groups refused to allow burials in village land — often demanding conversion as a condition.
This story was originally published in religionunplugged.com. Read the full story here.