In Bengal, '60 Hate Crime Cases Against Christians In 4 Months,' Says New Report

(Exposing hate and communalism is a key focus area in The Quint's reportage. Become a member and support our journalism).At least 60 hate crime incidents across 13 districts against Christians have been documented in West Bengal in only four months by the India Hate Lab (IHL). Their new report lays down more cases of violence and rising intimidation of Christians ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power for the first time in May this year.IHL is part of the Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH). In this report, they noted incidents have included raids, assaults, public humiliation, frequently justified through allegations of “religious conversion.”"Between 13 May and 20 September 2026, India Hate Lab (IHL) documented at least 60 incidents across 13 districts, including 52 raids on private prayer meetings, homes, churches, and other Christian gatherings, and eight incidents involving physical assault, mob violence, or vandalism," the report stated..During the same period, IHL also documented five public hate speech events explicitly targeting Christians, sometimes alongside Muslims, and three protests focused exclusively on alleged religious conversion.Earlier this year, The Quint had reported on this pattern, this template of violence against Christians in Madhya Pradesh and its human cost from the ground. Watch our full documentary here.Inside 'Bureaucratic Jihad': How Hindu Legal Fund Fuelled Bushra Bano's TransferIHL's documentation states that the perpetrators have themselves invoked the BJP’s assumption of power while targeting Christians. Most of the organisations who carried out these attacks were members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal, Hindu Jagran Manch, Hindu Suraksha Samiti and others.In Panskura, Paschim Medinipur, on 3 September, VHP and Bajrang Dal members, while interrupting a Christian gathering at a rental guest house, warned that no conversion activities in “New Bengal” would be allowed, invoking Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s public opposition to alleged religious conversion. In other incidents too, they stated these activities “would not be tolerated now that BJP is in power.” This September has been one of the worst months so far if IHL is to be believed. "The escalation was particularly pronounced in September, with five raids documented within a single 48-hour period on September 19-20," the report read.Hate, Islamophobia, Bounty on Swara: Why Was Bhardwaj ‘Swatantra’ For So Long?While reported cases of harassment against minorities have been surfacing online, a recurring feature of these cases has also been the targeting of Christian women over religious identity and traditional Bengali marital symbols.In Ramnagar, Purba Medinipur, on 5 September, Hindu nationalists told Christian women to remove their shakha-pola and mocked them for referring to Jesus as “Swami.” More such incidents of harassment were recorded in Kulpi in September, noted IHL.Moreover, in July this year, a Hindu nationalist group followed and heckled a group of Christian women carrying Bibles and wearing shakha-pola and sindoor, calling them “sold out Hindus” and “bejaat Hindus”— a casteist slur accusing them of abandoning their caste and community by converting. Another important aspect of some of these cases has been the fact that IHL alleged that police have been complicit in these cases, where they have accompanied Hindutva miscreants who targeted Christians.In Chaitanyapur, Haldia, on 9 July, police accompanied Hindu nationalist supporters to detain two women distributing Christian religious literature.In many cases, members of Hindu nationalist organizations themselves uploaded videos of raids, confrontations, and interrogations, while they also livestreamed some of these incidents as they unfolded. Thus, once again, drawing attention to Meta platforms who serve as mediums used by these groups to document, publicize, and amplify their vigilante activities targeting Christians."This is not a new problem. Social media platforms have repeatedly failed to adequately enforce their own rules against hate, incitement, and extremist activity in India, despite longstanding evidence that their services are used by extremist actors to organize, document, glorify, and amplify harassment and violence against religious minorities. The continued presence of accounts and content openly documenting such activities raises serious questions about the effectiveness of platform enforcement and the extent to which these groups can operate online with limited consequences," read IHL's report.APCR Documents 18 Hate Incidents Targeting Muslims During Kanwar Yatra 2026

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In Bengal, '60 Hate Crime Cases Against Christians In 4 Months,' Says New Report

Of the these, 52 raids on private prayer meetings, homes, churches, and other Christian gatherings, notes IHL.

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Topics: West Bengal hate crime West Bengal BJP