ICC Note:
A Christian woman in India was found dead in the jungle in Jharkhand state in mid-June. According to the local Christian community, many suspect the woman was killed by her family because of her conversion to Christianity. Religious intolerance in India has been on the rise since the Hindu nationalist BJP government came to power in 2014. Attacks on Christians and their places of worship by Hindu extremists have skyrocketed and often claims of Hindus being converted to Christianity spurs on the violence. Will an independent investigation show that this case was religiously motivated?
7/8/2016 India (Christian Today) – A Christian young woman who appears to have died in an Indian jungle is the suspected victim of a faith-related murder, according to local Christians and the charity Open Doors.
The 20-year-old, known as Samjheera, was found dead in a jungle near where she lived in Dumra, Latehar District in Jharkhand on 14 June.
Her pastor Philip Tirkey says Samjeera, who was preparing to be baptised, became interested in the Christian faith after praying to Jesus two years ago and being healed of an illness.
According to Tirkey however, Samjeera’s uncle and cousins were hostile about her conversion to Christianity and the young woman frequently complained to members of her church that she had received death threats from relatives.
The woman’s relatives claimed she had fallen from a tree after going to the jungle to pick fruit, according to Open Doors. But there were reportedly no marks on her body indicating a fall and one local said that there were marks on her neck indicating strangulation.
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