India has seen a wave of anti-Christian violence in recent years.
A nine-year-old girl from an Indian family that had recently converted to Christianity was on Sunday, 5 August, gang-raped and murdered in Punjab state.
Anjali Masih was playing with her friends in the city of Gurdaspur, near the Pakistan border, when a group of men lured her away by showing her a guava.
She was then gang-raped and strangled with a telephone wire.
Local Christians told World Watch Monitor that there has been a rise in anti-Christian feeling in the area, which is predominantly Hindu and Sikh, since a number of families converted to Christianity.
One Christian, who did not wish to be named, suggested the brutal attack could have been carried out by people wanting to discourage others from changing religions.
India has seen a wave of anti-Christian violence in recent years, with a notable increase since Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP came to power in 2014.
India ranks 11 in Open Doors’ list of 50 countries where Christian persecution is most severe
I’m sickened by this event! I’m very sad to know this. I’m Muslim and noticed a rise in tyrants and torture of innocent civilians across the world. Seems like there are tyrants, paedophiles and rapists in every community. This is a combination of all three. We need to filter them out regardless of our religions. But, the world is more interested in politics for power, gain and racist domination. Religions just a tool/fuel used to cause to create hate, division and anger.
May Allah guide and protect us all.