22-year-old Christian killed in Chhattisgarh

In the Bastar region, attacks against tribal converts to Christianity intensify. The story of Kosa Kawasi, murdered by his uncle and his cousin. An episode that reveals how severe discrimination remains against those who choose to embrace Christianity in rural villages. “Tribal Christians live in fear and insecurity even within their own families,” a source tells .

Darbha () – In the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, the epicenter of attacks against tribal converts to Christianity for a long time, another deadly attack was carried out on May 4. Kosa Kawasi, 22, was attacked and killed by a crowd of community members in Kapanar village, near Darbha town. According to reconstructions, the executioners were his uncle Dasru Kawasi and his cousin Madiya, who killed Kosa with a knife. The conversion of the young man and his wife had, in fact, provoked the anger of some members of his family who, faced with the couple’s convinced decision, responded by murdering him.

After his conversion, the family and neighbors of the village where Kawasi lived had already tried to evict him from the area and appropriate his property. His uncle, Dasru Kawasi, immediately imposed the condition of returning to the original religion. According to this demand, abandoning Christianity would have allowed him to have the right to at least part of the land. When he refused to bow to pressure from his family, a community meeting was held to resolve the dispute in which the villagers were also present along with the two disputing parties. The confrontation degenerated to the point that, blind with fury, Dasru and his son attacked Kosa Kawasi, who died before reaching the hospital. The police, informed of what happened, arrested both accused.

In statements to , a community source who requested anonymity stated that “in recent years there has been a drastic increase in attacks against tribal Christians and their properties in Bastar.” Attacks and hostilities that even deny permission to bury the dead in the village area. “Some were also expelled. “Christian tribals live in fear and insecurity even within their own families: Kosa Kawasi’s paternal uncle wanted to seize the properties that belonged to the young man, due to his Christian faith,” the witness continues.

The persistent violence against Christians is fueled by Hindutva organizations, characterized by a right-wing ethno-nationalist political ideology that defines India’s cultural identity in terms of Hinduism and wants an avowedly Hindu nation-state. These movements have become increasingly widespread in Bastar and provoke and fuel tensions between Christian and non-Christian tribals. The social and economic boycott is a daily reality in their lives. In the general elections that are being held in India, Bastar voted in the first phase of counting, on April 19. The Congress candidate, appealing to local tribal sentiments, reiterated the five guarantees of Congress towards women, farmers, youth and the tribal poor. While in this election season the Bharatiya Janata Party has added the issue of religious conversion to state policy.

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