Christian community groups in Mumbai have condemned an attack on priests and church members in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, allegedly by right-wing groups, on March 31.
The Christian Reform United People Association said eyewitnesses reported that a group of Christian pilgrims from a Mandla Church were attacked while on a pilgrimage to various Catholic Churches in Jabalpur as part of Jubilee 2025. The Catholic Church is celebrating a Jubilee Year, themed "Pilgrims of Hope," an event that occurs every 25 years, encouraging reflection, renewal, and a stronger connection to faith.
According to CRUPA, their journey was disrupted when they were stopped by the extremist group and taken to the Omti police station. They were released, they were stopped again at another church, and taken to a police station a second time.
A Christian news agency quoted a statement that said the group assaulted the priests inside the police station and had to be protected by personnel from Ranjhi police station who escorted for which we are thankful to the priests and the pilgrims back to Mandla.
Cyril Dara, advocate and secretary of CRUPA, said the Christian community has condemned the incident. "We strongly condemn this barbaric behaviour with our Church religious leaders by the fringe group. We demand immediate strong, stern, permanent action from the government and police authorities against the perpetrators."
