Latest: West Bengal Christians Tell People's Tribunal of Mob Attacks on Prayer Meetings

A woman from Keshpur, whose name the reporting does not give, told a hearing in Kolkata that a mob of 80 to 100 people attacked a prayer meeting at her home on 2 October. She alleged, as reported by both The Indian Express and The Hindu, that the mob assaulted her and forced her to plant a tulsi plant and chant “Jai Shri Ram.”

The hearing occured on 2 November 2026 at Kolkata's Muslim Institute, The Hindu reports, and The Indian Express also dates it to Monday. It was a “people's tribunal,” called the People's Tribunal on Christian Persecution in West Bengal, organised by Karwan-e-Mohabbat, the Sabar Institute, and Amra Ek Sachetan Prayas, The Hindu reports. The Hindu says more than a dozen survivors spoke.

The panel was made up of civil-society members and former bureaucrats, The Hindu and The Indian Express report, including Harsh Mander, Aakar Patel, Jawhar Sircar, John Dayal, Wajahat Habibullah, Tanika Sarkar, Omair Khan, and Vidya Dinkar, The Hindu reports. The tribunal is a civil-society hearing, not a court.

West Bengal People's Tribunal Keshpur Prayer Meeting Allegations

The Keshpur woman alleged, The Indian Express reports, that the men assaulted her, forced her to plant a tulsi plant and chant “Jai Shri Ram,” and that she said: “My saree and blouse were torn.” The Hindu reports she “had been disrobed and beaten up by a few people from the mob,” who said as they left that “the place had become free of Christians.” She alleged police inaction, The Indian Express reports: she waited till late night, an FIR was registered two days later, and the station in-charge “warned her against conducting prayer meetings.”

Ratna Mandal, from Hingalganj in North 24 Parganas, gave her account to The Indian Express alone. She said she was threatened by members of Hindu Jagran Manch for hosting an Argentinian couple, both students in Kolkata, who visited her to teach guitar, and that on 30 August 150-200 members “showed up at my house,” accused the couple of conversion, and “pointed weapons at the Argentinian woman.” Mandal alleged members destroyed her property, stole phones and valuables, and that police did not help;

The two counts are kept apart: The Indian Express reports the tribunal “said that 48 incidents of violence against Christians have taken place in West Bengal in the last six months.” The Hindu, via Herod Mullick citing the United States-based India Hate Lab, reports “at least 60 incidents of hate crimes and targeted attacks against Christians in West Bengal across 13 districts between May 13 and September 20 this year.”

West Bengal Haripal Prayer Gathering Attack Reports September 13

The Haripal attack on 13 September is reported in two forms, presented here as two reports. The Indian Express reports an unnamed Hooghly resident who alleged 40 to 50 people broke into her home, abused a congregation of around 20 people, and destroyed “property worth Rs 20 lakh,” with police late and “no action was taken,” as alleged there. The Hindu names “Sampa Karmakar from Haripal in Hooghly district,” who said a mob attacked a prayer gathering next to her residence, assaulted family members, and vandalised appliances, and the Rs 20 lakh figure is not attached to her account here.

Other testimonies are reported by The Hindu alone. Mamata Joshua, from Asansol, said a prayer meeting next to her residence was attacked on 31 May, The Hindu reports, and despite an assurance from a local BJP MLA she has received threats and holds prayer meetings in fear. Anup Kumar Ghosh, a priest in Midnapore town, was arrested after a mob attacked his church on 3 July, The Hindu reports, and said he spent 41 days behind bars and must report to the police station every week.

In all cases, The Hindu reports, mobs accused targets of religious conversion and threatened more violence if prayers were held. A church attack at Basanti is reported by both opened sources: The Indian Express reports a group allegedly vandalised a church at its inauguration, attacked priests and devotees, injuring them, “police said,” while The Hindu places a mob attack in the Basanti police station area on October 31. The date is written here as 31 October, and most survivors said perpetrators “had not been arrested,” The Hindu reports.

West Bengal Home Fellowships Tribunal Panel Views Political Context

Rev. Arpan Rana, State general secretary of the National Christian Council, told The Hindu that “the majority of targets over the past few months have been home fellowships or prayer meetings held at home.” Rana said, as reported by The Hindu, that under the West Bengal Religious Buildings and Places Act, 1985, “there are restrictions and conditions on holding religious prayers in public and private buildings not designated as religious places.”

Both outlets state the BJP came to power in the state in May 2026. Survivors claimed the police attitude had changed after that, The Hindu reports, while some recalled earlier targeting too.

Panel members' characterisations, attributed opinions rather than established fact, included Jawhar Sircar's claim, as reported by The Indian Express, that “since the BJP does not have a local base, they hit soft targets like informal Christian congregations to gain prominence.” Father Ritesh Kumar said, as reported by The Indian Express: “These brutal attacks are an agenda to persecute Christians, while the police and administration stay inactive.”

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What happens to the testimonies next — whether any authority answers them, whether any FIR moves, whether the Keshpur woman, Mandal, Joshua and Ghosh pray again in the homes where they were attacked — remains to be seen. The tribunal has heard the accounts, but what, if anything, changes for the next prayer meeting in a West Bengal home is the question left hanging.

But the most surprising part of this story is yet to come — keep reading.