MT Desk: A Hindutva mob terrorised, abused, and forced several Christian villagers to burn their sacred books in public in Rohtak District in Haryana. A video of the incident that has gone viral on social media platforms, showed Christians being coerced to denounce their faith. The video shows the incident occurred sometime last week. The marauding mob surrounded members of the Christian community. A mob member is heard calling the Christians “traitors” and saying that “their sacred books are dirt.
The mob forced the Christian group to renounce religion verbally and in writing with some members claiming they do not believe in the Holy Quran or the Bible and would not allow anyone to keep them. In the video, one Christian man, after being handed a bottle of petrol, was forced to set a Bible on fire as the mob shouted slogans of “Jai Shri Ram” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai.”
Such vigilantism violates fundamental rights under Articles 25 and 21 of the Indian Constitution. Under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (effective 2024), perpetrators can be charged with unlawful assembly (S.189), wrongful confinement (S.127), criminal intimidation (S.351), and rioting (S.191) if violence occurred; FIRs should invoke these for prosecution, emphasising rule of law over mob justice.
The video has sparked intense outrage online, highlighting the sense of impunity enjoyed by such Hindutva mobs under the far-right BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Rohtak isn’t an isolated incident. Since 2014, the persecution of Christians, Muslims, and other minorities has been a pressing concern since Modi took office. There has been a significant rise in attacks on religious minorities as 745 instances of anti-Christian violence reported in 2024, with Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh being the hardest hit
Similarly, mob attacks, extrajudicial killings, and custodial torture of Muslims have become increasingly common. Besides, stringent anti-conversion laws have been used by several states ruled by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or its allies. In 2024 alone, at least 160 Christians and Muslims were arrested under the laws
