Authorities in India have been accused of ignoring the religious motive behind the killing of three Christians in Odisha State, in what campaigners said was part of a wider pattern of pressure on believers.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said the murders highlighted the “extreme vulnerability” of converts in tribal areas and warned that justice could not be served if anti-Christian hostility was excluded from the investigation.

Jitendra Soren, his wife Malati Soren and their 15-year-old daughter were killed in their home in Nialijharan village, Keonjhar District, Odisha on 25th January.

The family had attended church that morning and returned home for lunch when relatives arrived accusing them of practising black magic.

According to CSW, the attackers claimed the couple’s Christian faith had caused illness in a niece.

When Mr Soren denied the accusations, he was pushed to the ground. His daughter was struck with an axe when she tried to shield him. Mrs Soren was killed as she attempted to protect her child, and Mr Soren was murdered while trying to flee.

Police arrested three suspects and filed a First Information Report.

However, CSW said the document omitted any reference to anti-Christian hostility and instead treated the case as a land dispute. The couple’s son, Suguda, told CSW the family had converted to Christianity a year earlier and had been warned for weeks not to attend church or “face death”.

CSW’s founder president Mervyn Thomas said dismissing the killings as a land issue was “a distortion of the facts”.

The case came amid wider concern about pressure on Christians elsewhere in India.

The All India Catholic Union (AICU), a 107-year-old Catholic lay body, recently warned of “evolving threats” to Christians in the northeast, including violence in Manipur and renewed efforts to enforce anti-conversion legislation in Arunachal Pradesh.

The surviving children have sought refuge with a family friend but remained fearful for their safety, CSW said.