clipped from www.guardian.co.uk

Three people said to be Hindu activists were arrested yesterday in connection with bombings that killed six Muslims during Ramadan last month in the west of the country.

The news comes after an upsurge in violence that has seen Hindu mobs rampage through Christian villages in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, leaving more than 40 people dead.

Christians who have lost their homes have been told they can return only if they convert to Hinduism.

At a press conference in the Indian capital yesterday a nun said she had been raped and paraded naked in Orissa by a rampaging mob of Hindus in August.

The anti-Christian violence this summer spread across four states, including Karnataka, the capital of which is Bangalore, India's information technology capital.