Kolkata: Hundreds of Christians from West Bengal and neighbouring states gathered at Rani Rashmoni Avenue in Esplanade on Thursday, November 5, for a prayer rally organised by the Bangiya Christiya Pariseba (BCP), protesting against alleged attacks, vandalism and harassment targeting churches and Christian prayer gatherings across the state over the past five months. Religious leaders, clergy and representatives of various denominations from Odisha, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland attended the rally.

Source: Kalimpong Online News (MP report, Nov 5)

BCP founding state secretary Herod Mullick said the organisation had documented 48 alleged incidents of violence and harassment over five months, many of which, it alleges, remained unregistered. Community representatives alleged that victims were prevented from filing formal police complaints in 32 of the 48 cases, with only 16 complaints registered, Matters India reported. These figures are the BCP's claims; they have not been independently confirmed by police in the reports.

Source: Matters India

48Alleged incidents documented by the BCP over five months
32 of 48Cases in which the BCP alleges victims were stopped from filing police complaints
5Members in the delegation that met the RSS state chief

Mullick said a five-member BCP delegation had met RSS state head Jishnu Basu on Wednesday. Delegation members reported that Basu condemned the violence, saying attacks on churches cannot be justified, and assured them he would raise the concerns with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. The meeting was facilitated by BCP member Charles Nandi. Church leaders at the rally included Protestant Archbishop Joseph D'Souza, president of the All India Christian Council, and Catholic Archbishop Elias Frank of Calcutta.

Archbishop D'Souza called for unity against alleged religious oppression, saying attacks on Christians were not new and that the community's fight would continue. Church leaders said false allegations of forced conversions are being used, in their allegation, to justify action against prayer meetings and house churches.

The two sides agreed to hold a follow-up meeting by the end of November involving RSS leadership, denomination heads and the BCP to address security concerns. A US-based project, India Hate Lab, has been cited by church groups as recording roughly 60 incidents across 13 districts from May to September; that count is also an advocacy-group figure and is reported here as attributed, not as a police-confirmed total.