Fear-stricken minority Christians from an impoverished central Indian tribal district which witnessed a spurt of communal violence last month, are urging the Indian government to take immediate steps to control the volatile situation.
Residents of the under-developed Jhabua met with 25 Indian groups advocating women's and minority rights, in India's capital, New Delhi, Monday to express their concerns.
On Tuesday, a group of people will petition the National Human Rights Commission - a government-instituted, independent rights body.
Later this week, the group plans to present a memorandum demanding the arrest of those responsible for last month's violence, to the Indian President.
The arid hills of Jhabua were torn by widespread violence after the raped body of a nine-year-old girl was found in a Catholic mission school in January.
"But the district administration, instead of arresting the culprit, let irresponsible rumors fly," recounts Sehba Farooqui, general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), a leading women's rights group.
Last month, NFIW sent a team to Jhabua in the state of Madhya Pradesh, to investigate the child's murder as well as the subsequent mob attacks on Christians and Christian institutes.
In its recently-released report, the NFIW team says the violence in Jhabua spread after members of Hindu militant groups called for a general closure outside the mission's compound, though police investigations proved the crime had not been committed by a Christian.
"They (members of militant groups) held the mission priests responsible for the crime. Fiery speeches were made demanding that Christian missionaries quit Jhabua," says the report.
Christians comprise less than one percent of the region's total population, with 47 per cent of the people living below the poverty line.
At the New Delhi gathering, people from Jhabua pointed out that the administration had done little to control the violence.
They expressed fears that the district would turn into another Gujarat - a reference to its neighboring western Indian state where over 2000 people died in a protracted spell of anti-minority violence last year - while the administration looked the other way.
"We were told as much by a functionary of a Hindu organization," says Annie Raja, a national secretary of NFIW who was in the team that visited Jhabua.
"Politicians from Gujarat keep crossing into Jhabua and threatening the people," Raja says.
Even now, the people of Jhabua protest that Christians are being singled out and abused by members of militant Hindu bodies affiliated to the Bharatiya Janata Party that rules Madhya Pradesh and is a majority partner in the ruling federal coalition.
"I am among those who have been beaten up," says Anna, a 65-year-old vegetable seller of Jhabua. "I was asked to remove the cross that I wore, and was beaten up when I refused to do so," she says.
Anna stresses that members of Hindu groups are urging the tribals, most of whom are Christians, to convert to Hinduism. Conversion remains a serious issue here, with Hindu groups accusing missionaries of forcibly converting Hindus and tribals to Christianity.
In Gujarat, attacks on Christians preceded the anti-Muslim riots that swept the state after a train compartment carrying Hindus was burnt down by a group of Muslims in February last year.
Due to the violence in Gujarat, which carried on for over 100 days as the police and political administration did little to check it, Christians in Jhabua stress they are living in a constant state of fear.
"We are scared that whenever they get a chance, they will attack us," cries Anna.
The NFIW team visited a 106-year-old Protestant church and missionary school that was attacked by a mob on January 16.
"The school furniture was broken, students were abused and slapped, their books torn, teachers, members of the parish and other Church members and workers were manhandled," the report says.
Churches, schools and other Christian institutes were ransacked and people wounded in the attacks. But, the NFIW points out, none of the culprits have been arrested so far.
Instead, "a virulent attack is being mounted on missionaries and Christians by the fundamentalist organizations," it alleges.
"They are urging the people to drive the missionaries out. As a result of the distribution of inflammatory literature, rumors and accusations, schools and churches are being attacked," it elaborates.
The people of Jhabua have demanded that the government arrest the culprits and suspend police personnel who did little to control the violence.
"No steps have been taken to instil confidence in the Christian community that their rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India will be safeguarded. There is widespread fear that attempts are afoot to create another Gujarat," warns the report.