Plinky Prompt: Share the Most Dangerous Thing You've Ever Done For Fun

Waterfall

Hmmm, I generally play it safe I have to admit – but occasionally I do do something stupid and/or dangerous during my normal activities. This generally happens when I’m out bushwalking, though I find myself being more cautious these days.

Some of the most dangerous situations I have found myself in while bushwalking have been when trying to ascend/descend waterfalls. I have fallen on several occasions now and on one occasion suffered some injuries that required me to abandon the rest of my walk/climb on that day.

On another occasion I fell and landed far too close to what was effectively a spear, right beside by throat.

Some falls like these do tend to lead you to more caution in future times.

 

Hindu Extremists in India Beat Pastor Unconscious

Evangelist was traveling with sons from one village to another.

NEW DELHI, April 22 (CDN) — Hindu extremists beat a pastor and evangelist unconscious in front of his sons earlier this month in Madhya Pradesh state.

Ramesh Devda, 30, from Dhadhniya, Meghnagar district, said he was attacked on April 4 at about 11 a.m. after leading a prayer meeting in Chikklia village. He said he was on his way to Bhajidongra, at the border of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat states, by motorcycle with his two sons, 10-year-old Elias, and 8-year-old Shimon, to lead another prayer meeting.

When he reached Raseda village, he said, suddenly three people on two motorcycles blocked his way and forced him to stop.

“Suddenly out of nowhere these three men appeared in two motorcycles – they blocked me and tilted my motorcycle,” Pastor Devda told Compass. “We fell down. They were carrying big bamboo sticks and clubs. They started beating me, and then they called and three more men came and started to attack me.”

He said he was thankful that his sons were spared from beating, though his older son sustained a leg injury in the course of the attack.

“They were angry at me and were threatening to kill me and were warning me not to come to their area again,” he said. “My sons were screaming at the top of their voices, and they were afraid. One of the men hit me on my forehead with a big bamboo stick, cracking my skull. The others were also beating me on my body, especially my back with bamboo sticks.”

A blow to the forehead temporarily blinded him, he said.

“My eyes were darkened, and I fell down, and they proceeded to beat me even more,” he said. “The men were also abusive in the foulest language that I had heard, and they were drunk.”

People passing by heard the two boys crying out and came to help, and the attackers fled, he said, leaving the unconscious pastor and his sons.

“I do not know who helped me, as I was unconscious,” Pastor Devda said. “But I came to know later that local Christians also came in and called the emergency helpline. As a result, an ambulance came, which then took me to the hospital.”

He was taken to Anita Surgical Hospital on Station Road in Dahod, Gujarat. There a physician identified only as Dr. Bharpoda told him that he had fractured his skull.

“I am being treated for my wounds now, but there is still a lot of pain,” Pastor Devda said.

A Christian for 15 years, Pastor Devda has been in Christian leadership for 11 years and now serves with the Christian Reformed Fellowship of India. He has two other children, Ashish and 4-year-old Sakina, and his wife Lalita, 28, is active with him in Christian service.

Pastor Devda leads congregations in Chikklia, Bhajidongra and Dhadhniya villages.

“I have heard that I was attacked because the people of Chikklia did not like me conducting the Sunday service there,” he said. “The people who beat me up do belong to a Hindu fundamentalist outfit, and some believers in Chikklia know them. I can recognize them if I see them again.”

He said, however, that he does not want to file a First Information Report (FIR) with police.

“There is no one supporting me or standing with me in my village or my mission, and I am myself fearful, as I have to continue to minister to these very people,” Pastor Devda said. “I know my attack was pre-planned, but I do not want to report it to the police.”

A Christian co-worker from Rajasthan was also attacked about a month ago in equally brutal fashion, he said, but also refrained from filing an FIR because of fear of repercussions.

Vijayesh Lal, secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India’s Religious Liberty Commission, said the tribal belt that extends to the border areas of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan, has been a hot spot for anti-Christian activity since the late 1990s.

“Only recently a 65-year-old evangelist was beaten and stripped by Hindu extremists,” he said. “It is a worrisome trend, and one that should be dealt with not only by the government but by the secular media and civil society in general.”

Report from Compass Direct News
http://www.compassdirect.org

Spate of Attacks on Christians Erupts in Orissa, India

Christian leaders fear large-scale violence like that of Kandhamal in 2008.

NEW DELHI, March 4 (CDN) — Hindu extremists have attacked Koya tribal Christians in villages in a remote area of Orissa state at least 15 times since Dec. 8, 2010, Christian leaders said.

In the latest incident in Murliguda, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Malkangiri town, about 60 assailants from the Hindu extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Feb. 23 damaged the eardrums of Bhadan Hontal and beat another Christian, Markari Soma, until he fell unconscious, according to a report by the Malkangiri District Christian Manch (MDCM, with Manch meaning “Forum”).  

Christian women, some pregnant, as well as children were among those injured in the attacks on churches, reported Pastor Vijay Purusu of Bethel Church and president of the MDCM. The spate of attacks began on Dec. 8 in Katanpali village, when about 35 Hindu extremists stormed the house of Pastor Mark Markani and beat him.

“Police action was delayed, so it resulted in more attacks against the Christians,” Pastor Purusu told Compass.

On Dec. 25, some 200 extremists barged into a Christmas Day celebration at a church in Koyi Konda village, beat the worshippers and destroyed furniture. Some church members received serious injuries on their hands, head and chest. About 10 houses belonging to Christians and their crops were destroyed, according to the MDCM.

The Christians filed a police complaint, but no action was taken, the forum reported.

“Persecution against the Christians has become a daily occurrence in the area,” Pastor Purusu said.  

Christians have suffered midnight raids on prayer meetings in which they have been beaten, he said, resulting in some Christians fleeing their homes and going into hiding. At least four families have left their village and not returned due to extremist warnings, reported the MDCM.

“There is great fear among the people because of the threats they received from the extremists,” Pastor Purusu said.

At the same time, Hindu extremists have forced about 25 people to convert into Hinduism in the Mottu area, the forum reported.

Church leaders said increased attacks on Christians are a symptom of fear and envy among Hindu extremists, who perceive that Christianity is spreading in many areas and who mistake Christian social and educational ministries as illegally “luring” people to convert.

The MDCM last month met with the district collector and superintendent of police, and Christian leaders had submitted a memorandum to the state chief minister on Jan. 27.

“Delayed action of the police, and less police force on duty aggravated the matter,” the Rev. Rendang Remo Paul stated in the MDCM report. He led a team consisting of representatives of the National Council of Churches in India, Church of South India and the Indian Missionaries Society that met with district collector on Feb. 3.

“We told the district collector that the situation must not become another Kandhamal [where large-scale violence broke out in Orissa in 2008], and the district administrator is responsible to curb the situation,” Pastor Paul stated. “To our plea he said, ‘Let’s see, because it has just started.’”

The local Christian community has met with various district authorities to address the situation, including the chief minister, said Tehmina Arora, advocacy director of the Evangelical Fellowship of India.

“However, the situation in Malkangiri is very tense, and the police do not have control over large portions of the district due to Naxalites [Communist militants],” she said. “This is the biggest hurdle in controlling the situation.”

Yesterday (March 3) area Christian leaders again met with the area district collector, who assured them that immediate action would be taken. Meantime, village Christians received rice and some essential items from the administration.

Area Christians fear that Malkangiri may see the same kind of eruption of violence that killed at least 100 people in Kandhamal district, as the same officials – R. Vineel Khrishna, district collector; Anurudh Kumar Singh, superintendent of police; a second officer of Mottu police station identified only as Jaal; and a project director, Gobinda Dansena – have been transferred from Kandhamal to Malkangiri district, Pastor Paul reported.

Report from Compass Direct News

Recent Incidents of Persecution

Punjab, India, December 1 (CDN) — Hindu extremists on Nov. 14 beat a Christian in Moti Nagar, Ludhiana, threatening to harm him and his family if they attended Sunday worship. A source told Compass that a Hindu identified only as Munna had argued with a Christian identified only as Bindeshwar, insulting him for being a Christian, and beat him on Nov. 7. Munna then returned with a mob of about 50 Hindu extremists on Nov. 14. Armed with clubs and swords, they dragged Bindeshwar out of his house and severely beat him, claiming that Christians had offered money to Munna to convert. Local Christian leaders reported the matter to the police at Focal Point police station. Officers arrested three Hindu extremists, but under pressure from local Bharatiya Janata Party leaders released them without registering a First Information Report. Police brokered an agreement between the parties on Nov. 18 and vowed they would not allow further attacks on Christians.

Tripura – Hindu extremists attacked a prayer conference on Nov. 6 in Burburi, threatening Christians if they opened their mouths. A local evangelist known only as Hmunsiamliana told Compass that area Christian leaders organized a prayer conference on Nov. 5-7, but extremists ordered the participants not to open their mouth or make any sound. Christian leaders reported the threat to police, and the participants proceeded to pray aloud. On the nights of Nov. 6 and 7, a huge mob of Hindu extremists pelted the Christians with stones, but the participants continued praying. The meeting ended on the evening of Nov. 7 under police protection.

Chhattisgarh – Hindu extremists from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council) disrupted a Christian youth gathering in Raipur on Nov. 6 and accused organizers of forcible conversion. The Evangelical Fellowship of India reported that Vision India had organized the Central India Youth Festival with about 900 in attendance when the extremists stormed in at about 4:30 p.m. and began questioning leaders. The Christian and VHP leaders then held a meeting in the presence of police, with the Christian leaders explaining that it was a normal youth meeting with no forceful conversion taking place. Nevertheless, officers and VHP leaders proceeded to observe the gathering and proceedings, and the Christians were made to submit a list of participants. In this tense atmosphere, the meeting concluded at 10 p.m. under heavy police protection.

Madhya Pradesh – On Oct. 31 in Neemuch, Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal barged into a worship meeting shouting Hindu slogans and accused those present of forceful conversion. The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) reported that about 40 extremists rushed into the church building at about 10 a.m. shouting “Jai Shri Ram [Hail Lord Ram].” The Rev. K. Abraham, who was leading the service, pleaded with them to come back later, but the invaders remained and continued shouting. After the service ended, the extremists rushed Abraham and accused the church of paying money to people to convert, as published in newspaper Pupils Samachar. The Christians said the newspaper published the false news because Abraham, principal of United Alpha English School, refused to advertise in it, according to EFI. The extremists grabbed a woman in the congregation who had a bindi (dot) on her forehead, claimed that she had been lured to Christianity and asked her why she was attending the service, according to EFI. “Where were you people when I was demon-possessed?” the woman replied, according to EFI. “You didn’t come to help me, but when I came to the church in God’s presence, these people prayed for me and helped me to get deliverance.”

Karnataka – Police on Oct. 29 detained Christians after Hindu extremists registered a false complaint of forced conversion in Kalammnagar village, Uttara Kannada. The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) reported that at around 8:15 p.m. police accompanied extremists belonging to the Bajrang Dal, who along with members of the media stormed the Blessing Youth Mission Church during a worship service for senior citizens. They dragged out Ayesha Nareth, Hanumanta Unikal,Viru Basha Doddamani, Narayana Unikkal and Pastor Subash Deshrath Nalude, forced them into a police jeep and took them to the Yellapur police station. After interrogation for nearly six hours, the Christians were released without being charged.

Orissa – Hindu extremists refused to allow the burial of a 3-year-old Dalit Christian who died in Jinduguda, Malkangiri. The All India Christian Council (AICC) reported that the daughter of unidentified Christian tribal people fell ill and was taken to a nearby health center on Oct. 27. The doctor advised the parents to take the child to a nearby hospital, and the girl developed complications and died there. When the parents brought the body of the girl back to their village, according to AICC, Hindus refused to allow them to bury her with a Christian ritual. There are only 15 Christian families in the predominantly Hindu village. With the intervention of local Christian leaders, police allowed the burial of the body in a Christian cemetery.

Karnataka – On Oct. 6 in Beridigere, Davanagere, a Christian family that converted from Hinduism was assaulted because of their faith in Christ. The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) reported that the attack appeared to have been orchestrated to appear as if the family provoked it. An elderly woman, Gauri Bai, went to the house of the Christian family and picked a quarrel with them. Bai started shouting and screaming for help, and suddenly about 20 Hindu extremists stormed in and began beating the Christians. They dragged Ramesh Naik out to the street, tied him to a pole, beat him and poured liquor into his mouth and onto his body. His sister, Laititha Naik, managed to escape and called her mother. Later that day, at about 8:30 p.m., the extremists pelted their house with stones, and then about 70 people broke in and began striking them with sickles, stones and clubs. Two brothers, Ramesh Naik and Santhosh Naik, managed to escape with their mother in the darkness, but the Hindu extremists took hold of their sister Lalitha and younger brother Suresh and beat them; they began bleeding and lost consciousness. The attackers continued to vandalize the house, damaging the roof and three doors with large boulders. The unconscious victims received treatment for head injuries and numerous cuts at a government hospital. Police from the Haluvagalu police station arrested 15 persons in connection with the assault.

Report from Compass Direct News

Pakistani Muslim Tortures, Accuses Christian Who Refused Slavery

Land owner falsely charges young man with illicit sex, calls villagers to beat, burn him.

SARGODHA, Pakistan, October 29 (CDN) — A Muslim land owner in Pakistan this month subjected a 25-year-old Christian to burns and a series of humiliations, including falsely charging him with having sex with his own niece, because the Christian refused to work for him without pay.

Fayaz Masih is in jail with burns on his body after No. 115 Chitraan Wala village head Zafar Iqbal Ghuman and other villagers punished Masih for refusing to work as a slave in his fields, said the Rev. Yaqub Masih, a Pentecostal evangelist. The village is located in Nankana Sahib district, Punjab Province.

Sources said neither Fayaz Masih nor his family had taken any loans from Ghuman, and that they had no obligations to work off any debt for Ghuman as bonded laborers.

Yaqub Masih said the young man’s refusal to work in Ghuman’s fields infuriated the Muslim, who was accustomed to forcing Christians into slavery. He said Ghuman considered Masih’s refusal an act of disobedience by a “choohra,” the pejorative word for Christians in Pakistan.

On Oct. 3 Ghuman and 11 of his men abducted Masih from his home at gun-point and brought him to Ghuman’s farmhouse, according to Yaqub Masih and Yousaf Gill, both of nearby village No. 118 Chour Muslim. Gill is a former councilor of Union Council No. 30, and Yaqub Masih is an ordained pastor waiting for his denomination to assign him a church.

Fayaz Masih’s family members told Yaqub Masih that Ghuman was carrying a pistol, and that the 11 other men were brandishing rifles or carrying clubs, axes and bamboo sticks. They began beating Masih as they carried him away, calling him a choohra, Yaqub Masih said.   

Gill said that Ghuman’s farmhands tied Fayaz Masih’s hands and legs and asked him once more if he would work in Ghuman’s fields. When he again refused, Gill said, Ghuman summoned four barbers; three ran away, but he forced one, Muhammad Pervaiz, to shave Masih’s head, eyebrows, half of his mustache and half of his beard.

After they had rubbed charcoal on Masih’s face, Ghuman then announced that Masih had had relations with Masih’s 18-year-old niece, Sumeera, and called for everyone in the village to punish him. He and his men placed Masih on a frail, one-eyed donkey, Yaqub Masih and Gill said, and a mob of Muslim men and children surrounded him – beating tins, dancing and singing door-to-door while shouting anti-Christian slogans, yelling obscenities at him and other Christians, and encouraging villagers to beat him with their shoes and fill his mouth with human waste, Yaqub Masih said.

Some threw kerosene on Masih and alternately set him on fire and extinguished the flames, Gill said. He added that Muslims made a garland of old shoes from a pile of garbage and put it around Masih’s neck.

Yaqub Masih said the abuse became unbearable for the young man, and he collapsed and fell off the donkey.  

 

Police Ignore Court

Masih’s sister, Seema Bibi, told Compass that the accusation that Masih had had sex with her daughter Sumeera was utterly false. She said Ghuman made the allegation only to vent his fury at Masih for refusing to work for him.

Seema Bibi said that Ghuman told her daughter at gun-point to testify against Masih in court on Oct. 4. Sumeera surprised the Muslim land owner, however, saying under oath that Masih was innocent and that Ghuman had tried to force her to testify against her uncle. A judge ruled that Sumeera had not had illicit relations with Masih, and that therefore she was free to go home.

Her mother told Compass, however, that since then Ghuman has been issuing daily death threats to her family.

After Masih collapsed from the abuse, Yaqub Masih and Gill called local police. Police did not arrive until three hours later, at 3:30 p.m., they said, led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Shoiab Ahmed Kamboh and Inspector Muhammad Yaqub.

“They rebuked the Muslim villagers that they could have killed this Christian youth, and they told them to give him a bath at once and change his clothes, in order to reduce the evidence against them,” Gill said.

Family members of Masih said Kamboh and Inspector Yaqub arrested some of the leading figures within the mob, but soon thereafter they received a call to release every Muslim.

“Instead of taking the Muslim men into custody, they detained my brother, and he was taken to the police station,” Seema Bibi said.  

On Oct. 4 police sent Masih to District Headquarters Hospital Nankana Sahib for examination, where Dr. Naseer Ahmed directed Dr. Muhammad Shakeel to mention in the medical report how severely Ghuman and his farmhands had beaten him, Gill said. He said the medical report also stated that Masih had sustained burns and that his head, mustache, eyebrows and beard were shaved.

In spite of the court ruling that Masih had not had sex with his niece, police were coerced into registering a false charge of adultery under Article 376 of the Islamic statutes of the Pakistan Penal Code, First Information Report No. 361/10, at the Sangla Hill police station.

At press time Masih remained in Shiekhupura District Jail, said Gill. Gill also has received death threats from Ghuman, he said.

The 11 men who along with Ghuman abducted Masih and brought him to Ghuman’s farmhouse, according to Masih’s family, were Mehdi Hussain Shah and Maqsood Shah, armed with rifles; Muhammad Amin, Rana Saeed, Muhammad Osama and four others unidentified, all of them brandishing clubs; Muhammad Waqas, with an axe; and Ali Raza, bearing a bamboo stick and a club.

Report from Compass Direct News

Christian Assaulted in Orissa State, India

Extremists in Kandhamal vowed to kill a Christian around date of Hindu leader’s death.

NEW DELHI, September 9 (CDN) — Suspected Hindu nationalists in an area of Orissa state still tense from 2008 anti-Christian violence beat a Catholic father of seven until he fell unconscious on Aug. 20, the 47-year-old victim said.

Subhash Nayak told Compass that four unidentified men assaulted him as he made his way home to Laburi village from the hamlet of Kapingia in Kandhamal district. Hindu extremists in Kandhamal district killed more than 100 people in several weeks of attacks following the murder of Hindu extremist leader Swami Laxamananda Saraswati.

An 80-year-old monk who for decades spearheaded the anti-conversion movement in Orissa’s tribal-dominated areas, Saraswati was shot dead on Aug. 23, 2008. Area church leaders such as Biswajit Pani of Khurda told Compass that villagers in Laburi have planned to attack at least one Christian around that date every year.

Nayak said the assailants left him for dead.

“I could not see their faces as it was very dark, and they tried to poke my eyes with their sticks,” said Nayak, still in pain. “They stomped on my chest with their feet and hit me relentlessly till I fell unconscious. They left me thinking I was dead.”

Nayak said that he was returning from work at a construction site in Kapingia when, about a kilometer from his home in Laburi, a stone hit him. Four men appeared and began beating him.

The stone struck him in the forehead between 7 and 8 in the evening as he was riding his bicycle, he said.

“As I fell on the road with sharp pain, figuring out who hit me, four people came and started to hit me with wooden sticks,” Nayak said.

Asserting that no one had any personal enmity toward him, Nayak said that Hindu extremists in Kandhamal district have been telling people, “We destroyed and burned their houses and churches, which they have rebuilt, but now we will attack their lives, which they cannot rebuild.”

Pani and another area Christian, retired school teacher Tarsish Nayak, said they also had heard Hindu nationalists spreading this message.

Nayak recalled that a year ago, while returning to his village at night around the anniversary of Saraswati’s murder, he heard someone whispering, “Here he comes … He is coming near,” at which point he fled.

“There were people hiding, seeking to attack me,” he said.

Saraswati, a leader of the Hindu extremist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council), was assassinated by a Maoist group, but Christians were falsely blamed for it. The ensuing anti-Christian attacks killed more than 100 people and burned 4,640 houses, 252 churches and 13 educational institutions. Violence also erupted in Kandhamal district during Christmas week of 2007, killing at least four Christians and burning 730 houses and 95 churches.

The area where Nayak lives and works was one of the worst-hit in the anti-Christian attacks that took place after Saraswati’s assassination.

After regaining consciousness, Nayak strained to stand up and felt blood dripping down his cheeks, he said. His bicycle was lying at a distance, its front light broken.

Nayak said he was not sure how long he lay unconscious on the road, but it was 11 p.m. by the time he managed to walk home. He said it was only by God’s grace that he “slowly, slowly reached home.”

“‘I am dying,’ were my words as I entered home and fell unconscious again,” Nayak said.

His wife Mamta Nayak, two of his children, his parents and eight villagers carried the unconscious Nayak on a cot three kilometers before getting him into an auto-rickshaw and on to Raikia Government Hospital at 1 a.m.

A doctor was summoned from his home to attend to Nayak, who required stitches on the right side of his forehead. He sustained injuries to his right knee, face, an area near the ribs and chest, and he still has difficulty chewing food, Nayak said.

“I feel nausea and pain in my head as I move my jaw,” he said.

Feeling weak from blood loss, Nayak received a saline solution intravenously for eight days in the hospital. He said he earns very little and had to sacrifice some of his valuables to pay the medical expenses. The doctor advised him to undergo a head scan, which he has eschewed as he cannot afford it, he said.

Pani told Compass that Nayak has refused to file any complaints with police out of fear of retaliation.

Nayak explained, “The police will not take any action, and we have seen in the past that I will be threatening my life by doing so.”

Report from Compass Direct News

Recent Incidents of Persecution

Karnataka, India, June 30 (CDN) — Hindu extremists on June 23 beat two pastors, seriously injuring them in Chandapura, Anekal. The Evangelical Fellowship of India reported that after pastors Shidu Kurialose and Nithya Vachanam of Bethel Assembly of God Church conducted a Christian meeting in a home, armed extremists attacked them at a tea stall. The extremists accused the pastors of forceful conversion and started beating them with iron rods. Both pastors sustained serious injuries and were admitted in a local hospital. No police complaint was filed.

Tamil Nadu – After opposing a Christian convention on June 17-20, Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal on June 22 burned at least seven vehicles belonging to Jesus With Us Pentecostal Church in Mathikere, Hosur. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that the incident started when the extremists on June 18 called on local authorities to revoke the organizers’ permit and convinced local Hindu shop owners to close their stores. Police arrested five Hindu extremists in connection with anti-Christian violence. Subsequently, under police protection, Christians moved their meeting to another area eight kilometers (five miles) from the original site.

Uttar Pradesh – Hindu extremists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh disrupted the prayer meeting of the Jesus Church (Isha Garh) on June 21 in Firozabad and accused the pastor of forceful conversion. A source said the extremists forced their way into the church building and manhandled Pastor Breymond Shastri. The next day the extremists went to newspaper Amar Ujala with the accusation, and the local periodical published a false report that Pastor Shatri was taking part in forceful conversion activities. Area Christian leaders said no forceful conversion was taking place. The extremists warned the pastor he would be harmed if he continued to conduct worship services.

Uttar Pradesh – About eight Hindu extremists on June 20 disrupted the Sunday worship service of Apostolic Christian Assembly Church in Gorakpur. After shouting anti-Christian slogans outside the church building, the extremists stormed in and ranted against Christianity, putting a halt to the meeting as they accused the pastor of forceful conversion. Police arrived and chased the extremists away. At press time the extremists were still issuing threats to the pastor, warning him of harm if he continued conducting worship meetings, the Evangelical Fellowship of India reported. Police have provided protection to the pastor.

Karnataka – Based on a complaint by Hindu extremists against Christians of forceful conversion, Karnataka officials closed down a Christian orphanage on June 16 in Karwar. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that state officials visited a school at the orphanage and issued a closure order to Spring of Hope Orphanage and Vocational Arts Training Centre, which has 61 tribal students. The home has been functioning for four years in an area long occupied by Siddi tribal Christians. At press time area Christian leaders were taking steps to resolve the conflict.

New Delhi – Suspected Islamic extremists beat an Afghani Christian, seriously injuring him, on June 14 in Malviya Nagar. A Christian source said two Islamic extremists on a motorbike beat Hamid Ullah on his head as he was walking home. The Christian fell on his stomach and the extremists continued to beat him, denigrating his faith, calling him “pagan” and warning him to convert to Islam or face harm. Afghani Christians have been facing warnings, threats and attacks in different areas of New Delhi, the source said, and the advocacy department of the Evangelical Fellowship of India has taken steps to help them.

Karnataka – After Hindu extremists from the Sri Ram Sena (Lord Ram Army) on June 9 attacked Pastor Vasanthe Kathedar of New India Church (NIC), police arrested him for allegedly creating communal disharmony and disrupting the peace – that is, practicing his Christian faith among Hindus – in Okkere, Belgaum. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that the incident took place at the house of a NIC member where the Christians were meeting. The assault on the pastor lasted for about an hour and, as is customary in India, when police arrived they arrested and charged the victim of the crime.

Orissa – Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal on June 9 accused three Christians of forceful conversion and attacked them in Deogarh, Sambalpur. The Evangelical Fellowship of India reported that the incident took place when Hindu Biranchi Kistotta invited Pastor Lamuel Panaik, Pastor N. Philemon and Sudhir Kumar to celebrate the healing of his son, for whom Pastor Panaik had prayed. People of various faiths attended the celebration, including Hindu members of Kistotta’s family. At about 12:30 p.m., seven Hindu extremists accompanied by media personnel suddenly arrived and called Pastor Patnaik to come out of his house. When the pastor refused, the extremists rushed in and forcefully pulled out the three Christians. The extremists accused them of forceful conversion and beat Sudhir Kumar while manhandling the two pastors. Police arrived and questioned those present about whether forceful conversion was taking place, and people came forward to say that the Christians were innocent. Police took the three Christians to the police station as a safety measure, however, and arranged for their return home at 10:30 p.m. No police complaint was filed as the Christians chose to forgive the attackers.

Orissa – Hindu extremists on June 8 brutally attacked a Christian and threatened to kill him in Nuapada. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that six Hindu extremists armed with daggers and sticks broke into the house of Bhakta Bivar, 19, while his parents were at a prayer meeting. The extremists verbally abused Bivar for his faith and started beating him. They dragged him to a Hindu temple, where they told him to deny Jesus as they continued to beat him, forced on him food offered to idols and threatened to kill him and his parents if they did not convert to Hinduism. The extremists burned four Bibles they had taken from his home and, forcing him to wear a saffron garment symbolic of the Hindu religion, dragged him out to the street, falsely announcing that he had returned to Hinduism. The extremists left after threatening to kill him if he continued to believe in Christ, as they have forbidden the existence of Christianity in the area. Following the filing of a complaint with police, five Hindu extremists were arrested the next day.

Karnataka – Police on June 7 arrested two Christian women after Hindu extremists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh disrupted Sunday worship in Bovi Colony, Chickmagalur. According to the Evangelical Fellowship of India, the extremists barged into a church’s worship service and accused Kadaur Devaki and a pastor identified only as Lalathamma of creating communal disharmony and disrupting the peace. Police soon arrived and arrested the two women for “deliberate and malicious acts to outrage religious feelings” and sent them to Hassan Jail.

Tamil Nadu – Hindu extremists from a religious and cultural organization formed to defend the Hindu religion, the Hindu Munnani, demolished a church building under construction on May 28 near Rameshwaram. Catholic sources said the demolition came after a local Hindu Munnani leader identified only as Ramamurthy filed a complaint against construction of the building. Government officials sided with the Hindu extremists, claiming that the one church building, St. Anthony church, already existed and that a new one would create tensions. The structure was demolished, leaving area Christians shocked and shaken.

Chhattisgarh – Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal attacked a Christian school program from May 20 to May 29 in Jagbalput, beating a pastor and two teachers on May 27. Beaten were Pastor Rahul Pant and two teachers from Mission India. A source told Compass the extremists accused the Christians of forceful conversion and of using a government school for the Christian program, called Children Development Program (CDP), without permission. They also accused the Christians of distributing books containing conversion activities (biblical narratives). The extremists took the Christians to a police station, where officers questioned them. The Christians said they had permission from the village head, but the assailants said they need permission from the local collector. The parties reached an agreement wherein the Christians were forced to stop the CDP in the government school until they obtain the collector’s permission. The Christians were released without charges.

Karnataka – Opposing a church leader for conducting prayer meetings in his house, Karnataka police on May 26 verbally abused pastor Shiva Kumar and warned him not to conduct further Christian meetings in Mysore. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that at about 7 p.m. police summoned Pastor Kumar and detained him until 10:30 p.m. Police forcefully obtained a written statement from the pastor, took his photograph and warned him not to conduct any Christian activities in the area.

Andhra Pradesh – Hindu extremists accused Pastor T. Paul of forceful conversion and beat him on May 24 in Narayanpet, Mahabubnagar, seriously injuring him. The All India Christian Council reported the Hindu extremists stopped Pastor Paul as he returned home in a Jeep after conducting a worship meeting. The extremists stopped his vehicle and dragged him out before beating him and accusing him of forceful conversion. The pastor received hospital treatment for internal injuries. Area Christian leaders have asked police to arrest the assailants.

Report from Compass Direct News

Two Church of Christ in Nigeria Journalists Killed in Jos

Other Christians murdered in area that continues to be wracked by violence.

LAGOS, Nigeria, April 27 (CDN) — The killing of Christians in Jos, Plateau state in Nigeria continued over the weekend with two journalists and five other persons falling victim to Muslim youth gangs.

Nathan S. Dabak, an assistant editor at a newspaper of the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) called The Light Bearer, and Sunday Gyang Bwede, a reporter at the publication, were stabbed to death on Saturday (April 24) at Gado-Bako in Jos North Local Government Area along with an unidentified motorcyclist.

“The staff of the church were murdered in cold blood by some Hausa Muslim youths,” the Rev. Pandang Yamsat, president of COCIN, told Compass today. “This is clear because they have been using the hand phones of the deceased journalists and boasting that they are the ones that killed them.”

The young Muslim men have been boldly answering calls to the cell phones of the deceased journalists, he said; when a friend of Dabak called his cell phone number, an unknown voice responded, “We have killed all of them – you can do your worst!”

Dabak, 36, and the 39-year-old Bwede had left their office on Saturday morning and were on their way to interview local politician Bulus Kaze when they fell into the hands of young Muslim men, Yamsat said.

The church started a search for the two Christians that day but did not discover their bodies until about noon on Sunday at the mortuary of Jos University Teaching Hospital, he said. He added that the church was eagerly waiting for results of a police investigation.

“The security team of the church has been communicating with the police, but they are yet to make any headway on this unfortunate incident,” he said.

Burial of the slain journalists is scheduled for Friday (April 30).

In his statement on Monday (April 26), Yamsat lamented that “while efforts have been tailored towards the return of peace to the state by the military Special Task Force, it is regrettable that the state is confronted with a spate of killings.”

“The church is still mourning the death of its pastor and his wife killed in Boto, Bauchi state,” Yamsat said, in reference to the April 13 kidnapping and murder of the Rev. Ishaku Kadah, 48, and his 45-year-old wife Selina. “It is sad that it should again be left to face another brutal murder of two of their staff.”

The state branch of the Nigerian Union of Journalists also condemned the circumstances that led to the death of the two journalists, expressing deep concern over what it described as “a series of attacks on its members in recent times in the course of carrying out their legitimate duties.”

Four other Christians also were killed on Saturday (April 24) in the Dutse Uku district of Jos’ Nasarawa Gwom area in a revenge attack following the discovery of the corpse of a teenage Muslim who had been missing. Their names were not released at press time.

The four Christians reportedly died, three of them stabbed to death, when hundreds of Muslim youths rampaged throughout the area in protest.

Earlier, police reportedly exhumed eight bodies from shallow graves in a predominantly Christian village near Jos. The discovery of the bodies brought to 15 the number of corpses found in three days in an area fraught with Muslim aggression that has left hundreds of Christians dead.

Jos has become a flash-point for ethnic and religious tensions in Plateau state, which is located between Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north and Christian south. Previously hundreds of Christian villagers were struck with machetes and burned to death on March 7 in Dogo Nahawa, Zot and Rastat, three villages in Jos South and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas.

On March 17, Muslim Fulani herdsmen assaulted two Christian villages in Plateau state, killing 13 persons, including a pregnant woman and children. In attacks presumably over disputed property but with a level of violence characteristic of jihadist method and motive, men in military camouflage and others in customary clothing also burned 20 houses in Byei and Baten villages, in the Riyom Local Government Area of the state, about 45 kilometers (29 miles) from Jos.

On Jan. 17, two pastors and 46 other Christians were killed in an outbreak of violence in Jos triggered when Muslim youths attacked a Catholic church. Police estimated over 300 lives were lost in subsequent clashes, in which 10 church buildings were burned.

Report from Compass Direct News 

Theology Student Dies in Attack in Madhya Pradesh, India

Hindu extremists raid revival meeting in one area, while others attack gospel event in another.

NEW DELHI, April 27 (CDN) — Hindu extremists raided Christian events in India’s Madhya Pradesh state this month, leaving a visiting theology student dead and several other Christians injured.

The body of 23-year-old Amit Gilbert was recovered from a water well 25 feet from the site of a Christian revival meeting that 15 to 20 Hindu extremists attacked on April 17 in Gram Fallaiya, Post Pathakheda, Betul district. With covered heads and carrying iron rods and bamboo clubs, members of the Hindu extremist Dharam Sena and Bajrang Dal cut electricity at the night-time event and began striking, sending the more than 400 in attendance running, Christian leaders said.

Eyewitnesses said the assailants chased Gilbert, of Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh state, and beat him mainly on his legs. Police in the state controlled by the Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that for the moment they believe Gilbert accidentally fell into the well amid the chaos, but Christians present said that is unlikely.

His body was found with his head and legs submerged in the 1.5-meter deep water of the well, yet he had no water in his lungs or stomach when Christians drew him out, said Pastor Santwan Lal, organizer of the April 15-17 revival event, suggesting that Gilbert was dead before being thrown in. 

“Amit was hit first and then picked up and thrown into the well,” Pastor Lal said. “If he had fallen into the well, he would have had more bruises and at least a broken bone or two, since the well is rocky and narrow. But that was not the case.”

Pastor Lal and others Compass spoke with said they believe the posture of the body leaves no doubt that Gilbert was murdered.

“He sustained an injury on the left side of his face near the ear,” Pastor Lal added.

An autopsy was conducted, but authorities are not disclosing findings, Pastor Lal said. Hindu extremists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bajrang Dal are reportedly exerting intense pressure on local authorities.

Betul Assistant Sub-Inspector Santosh Jain told Compass that the results of the autopsy, conducted by a team of doctors, will not be released because they have now become politicized.

Police on April 19 arrested nine people in connection with the incident and charged them with rioting, violence and trespassing, but not murder. Officers also registered Gilbert’s death under the Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which pertains to inquiry and report on an incident involving death of a person whether suicide or otherwise.

“We are trying hard, but this case does not seem to be moving forward,” Jain said. “A report has been registered against 10 to 12 [initially] unidentified people, and we have so far arrested nine. All have accepted their involvement in the crime, and all belong to the Bajrang Dal. Not one of them is a local from Betul. Their bails have been rejected at the lower court.”

Arrested were Rakesh Dhurwe, Neeraj Rajput, Radheshyam Sahu, Sonu Rajput, Raju Kahar, Rajesh Oriya, Raju Deshmukh, Arun Thackrey, and Hemrath Bahalavi, he said.

Though police have initially determined that Gilbert fell into the well, they say they are open to the possibility that he was thrown into it.

Pastor Lal added that two women were also injured in the melee.

“As a result of the violence, two ladies attending the meeting were hit, and one of them was admitted in a local hospital for three days,” he said.

Christian leaders said Betul has increasingly witnessed such attacks since the BJP came to power in the state in 2004, with various incidents of Christians being beaten, arrested and intimidated.

The April 17 attack was sudden and without provocation or warning, Pastor Lal said. Soon after the assailants left, the Christians gathered to determine if anyone were missing. An unnamed girl and a nephew of the pastor were missing but later found, and that night Gilbert’s body was found when a Christian shined a flashlight into the well.

Gilbert was visiting as a volunteer to another pastor after having finished his Masters in Divinity degree from Central India Bible College, Itarsi, Madhya Pradesh, in March. He had reportedly insisted on staying to help Pastor Abhishek John in Sallaiya village in order to gain ministry experience.

Sources said April 17 was to have been Gilbert’s last day of volunteer service, as he was planning to return home to Uttar Pradesh the next day.

Rampage in Balaghat

In Balaghat on April 14 and 15, Hindu extremists attacked a three-day gospel meeting with fuel-bombs in spite of the presence of police summoned beforehand to provide security.

Prior to the event attended by 10,000 people in Balaghat’s Mulna stadium, local newspapers carried open threats issued by the Bajrang Dal and BJP workers against the Christian community. On April 14Bajrang Dal members threw two fuel-bombs into the stadium that did not explode.

“They had hurled petrol bombs even in the presence of the police,” Saurabh Panduria, a local Christian doctor, told Compass. “Thankfully it did not explode, or anything could have happened as there were many women, children and sick people in the crowd.”

The next day Bajrang Dal and the BJP workers attacked the event as well as the quarters where people who had come from outside Balaghat to attend the meetings were staying, including Kamla Nehru hall.

Police increased security for the April 15 meeting, but as it was drawing to a close about 150 BJP andBajrang Dal members surrounded the stadium. Some of them tried to storm in, but police repelled them. Hindu extremists responded by pelting them with stones and throwing fuel bombs at police vehicles. They also attempted to destroy stadium property.

Bajrang Dal workers Golu Thakre and Manu Yadav were among those who harassed participants at an afternoon meeting on April 15, said Dr. Amos Singh of Jeevan Jyoti Ministries in Balaghat.

“Darbari and Ganesh from Barai village in Mandla, Madhya Pradesh, and Sunil Jagne from Gondia, Maharashtra, were severely beaten by the Bajrang Dal people, and they were interrogated like they were criminals,” Singh said. “The police arrived later.”

At 5 p.m. extremists caught hold of some Christians and forced them to the BJP local office in Balaghat, where BJP and Bajrang Dal members assaulted at least three of them.

Police arrested nearly 23 Bajrang Dal members, including eight leaders. This prompted BJP Member of Parliament K.D. Deshmukh and Member of Legislative Assembly Ramesh Bhatere to lead a mob that surrounded the police station and protested throughout the night, loudly shouting slogans against the administration and the Christian community.

About 1,000 to 1,500 BJP and Bajrang Dal supporters fanned throughout Balaghat, bunching particularly around a bus stand and railway station and damaging at least three vehicles, including ones belonging to a senior police officer and an ex-Member of Parliament, Ashok Singh Saraswat. The mob attempted to set fire to buses from Maharashtra state transport corporation.

Since most of those attending the meeting were outsiders, the Bajrang Dal members descended on the railway station and bus stand and harassed passengers and broke property, damaging both buses and railway coaches, Singh said. If the extremists found a Bible in the luggage of people at the railway station and bus stand, they attacked them, he said.

“Christians who were returning from the meeting and attempting to get away from Balaghat as soon as possible were attacked and beaten with sticks and pelted with stones,” Singh said. “Women workers of the BJP attacked Christian women staying in Sindhi Dharamshala [hall], and some Christians who had come from Gondia and other places from nearby Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh had to flee for their lives, leaving behind their luggage in the Kamla Nehru hall and other places where they were put up.”

Pastor Kamlesh Nagpure said that he and his family were stuck in the stadium, unable to go to their home outside the city limits of Balaghat.

“People were driven to safety in tractors and private cars following the ruckus, and they were attacked even till early morning, 4 a.m.,” he said. “The attackers used large sticks to rough people up and indulged in brick throwing, which also damaged some vehicles. Some of us who could not get a safe ride outside town limits were forced to stay inside the stadium the whole night. Most of the crowd was composed of women and children.”

Christian leaders reportedly said the mob also damaged a Catholic church in Balaghat and attempted to attack other church buildings and houses belonging to Christian leaders. They threw fuel-bombs at the house of the Rev. Arvind Deep, where several participants had taken refuge that night.

At last the administration was forced to impose a curfew until April 17, even as the BJP declared a total shutdown of market and other activities on April 16 and 17 as part of their protest.

“Targeting participants of the meeting and beating and intimidating them continued till 10 a.m. on April 16,” Singh told Compass. “Many Christians have fled Balaghat out of fear and have gone to live with their relatives.”

Eight people who were arrested on April 15 were reportedly released the next morning.

Report from Compass Direct News 

Recent Incidents of Persecution

Madhya Pradesh, India, March 31 (CDN) — Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) extremists accompanied by police officials on March 28 disrupted Christian worship in Raksha Nagar, Ranjhi, Jabalpur. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that at 10:30 a.m. about 45 extremists from the Bajrang Dal broke into the service shouting Hindu slogans, followed by police, as Pastor Francis Zavier of the Apostolic Christian Assemblies was leading the service. Police took Vinay Ashwaley, Mangal Das Chowdhary, Panchwati Chowdhary, Shailesh Philemon, Mamta Chowdhary and Kanti Bai Chowdhary to the Ranjhi police station. A police official told Compass that the intruders were acting on a written complaint from a known Bajrang Dal activist identified only by his surname, Sonekar, that “conversion activities” were taking place at the church. Conversion and conversion activities are legal in India. After questioning the Christians for nearly three hours, police released them without charges as the allegations were baseless, an officer told Compass. The Fellowship of Pastors subsequently sent a written request for additional police security for Good Friday and Easter Sunday services.

New Delhi – Hindu extremists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) attacked Pastor Galdwin Masih and another Christian identified only as Pritam on March 25 in the Seema Puri area of New Delhi. The pastor was leading a prayer meeting where three RSS members were present. In the middle of the meeting they alerted other RSS members and, as they began to leave, threatened to beat the Christians. As Pastor Masih and Pritam were returning home, about 25 extremists stopped them on the road and beat them with cricket stumps and hockey sticks, leaving their bodies badly bruised. Pastor Gladwin called police, who rushed to the site as the extremists fled. A First Information Report was filed against the attackers, but no arrests had been made at press time.

Tamil Nadu – Local Hindu villagers in Palladam, Tiruppur, on March 23 filed a complaint against five Christians for carrying brochures depicting Hindu religion and gods as barbaric and glorifying Christianity. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that the Christians from Nagercoil village, identified only as Kannian, Pride, Mathew, Paulraj and Vincent, visited Christians in Kullampalaya slum area to provide medical help. A local daily reported that the Christians were carrying brochures favoring Christianity over Hinduism and that their primary aim was “forcible conversion” by offering promises of free homes, money, food and jobs in foreign countries. The Evangelical Fellowship of India reported that Kama Nayakkampalayam police took the five Christians into custody, but after questioning them found them innocent and released them. They were released with a “soft warning to not indulge in such activities again,” reported the local-vernacular daily.

Andhra Pradesh – Hindu extremists in Anakapalli Mandal attacked Pastor Nireekshana Roa and his wife on March 22. Led by village head Ram Naidu, the extremists accused the couple of forceful conversion and beat them for preaching in the area. The couple was earlier attacked for organizing a prayer meeting in the area. Police refused to file the pastor’s complaint, and area Christian leaders were trying to intervene on the couple’s behalf at press time.

Chhattisgarh – About 25 Hindu extremists forced their way into the Sunday worship service of Believers Church of India in Raipur on March 21, threatening and cursing the Christians and seizing Bibles and other literature. An area source reported that at about 2 p.m. the extremists entered and threatened to beat the Christians if they did not leave the area; they also threatened to get a government employee present fired from her job if she continued in her Christian faith. Police detained the Christians for about three hours, during which they also issued threats for them to leave the area. The church members were said to be living in fear.

Chhattisgarh – About 40 Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal stopped the Sunday prayer meeting of Ebenezer Church in Kasdol on March 21. A source told Compass that at 3:30 p.m. the extremists angrily barged into the prayer meeting, accused the Christians of forceful conversion, tore Bibles and Christian literature and shut the church. They threatened the Christians with violence if they continued to hold prayer meetings. The extremists alerted police, and officers took some Christian leaders of the church, including Pastor Ravi Bagha, to the police station for about seven hours. Area Christians intervened and they were released without charges. Police refused to take the complaint of the Christians, reported the source.

Chhattisgarh – About 40 Hindu extremists from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) on March 21 attacked Christian students and teachers at Personality Development Centre for Youth, a training center managed by Care for the People of India, in Durg. The extremists verbally abused them, burned Bibles and gospel literature and got them arrested on false charges of insulting the national flag. A source told Compass that at about 2 p.m. the extremists, carrying a national flag on which they had painted a red cross, forcefully entered the center and began beating the students. Later, with the criminally defaced flag as supposed evidence, the extremists filed a complaint of insulting the Indian flag against three teachers of the center. The three Christians were booked for insulting the national flag and were later released on bail. Praful Barrik, head of Care for the People of India, received medical treatment for injuries sustained in the attack.

Chhattisgarh – Hindu extremists from the Dharma Sena (Religious Army) on March 21 accused members of The Pentecostal Church of forceful conversion and beat them in Nandini, Durg. A source told Compass that about 35 extremists forcefully entered the church at about 1:30 p.m., as the Sunday meeting was winding up. At press time area Christian leaders were taking steps to register an FIR against the attackers.

Karnataka – Police arrested a pastor on March 15 after Hindu extremists filed a complaint against him of forceful conversion in Borgunta, Sullai Taluk, Mangalore. The Evangelical Fellowship of India reported that the incident took place when a Christian identified only as Pastor Valsalan of Bethesda Assemblies of God Church, along with his family, was visiting a church member’s home; about 30 Hindu extremists barged into the house and accused the pastor of forceful conversion. An area Bharatiya Janata Party member of the Legislative Assembly and other extremists pressured police authorities to arrest the pastor. Officers arrived and arrested him, and he was sent to central jail in Mangalore.

Madhya Pradesh – Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal in Badwani on March 13 stopped a meeting at a Christian convention and accused those in attendance of forceful conversion. Satsang (Fellowship) Ministry organized the three-day spiritual convention after obtaining permission from local police on March 12. The Christians went to police to say they had obtained permission for the convention, but officers sided with the extremists, telling the Christians to cease attending.

Karnataka – Based on a complaint by an area leader of the Hindu extremist Vishwa Hindu Parishad of forcible conversion, police on March 10 arrested Pastor Hanume Nayak of Good Shepherd Community Church and his wife. Officers questioned the couple in Chellur, and they were held in custody the entire night. With the intervention of area Christian leaders and that of a member of the Legislative Assembly, the Christians were released on bail the next day.

Chhattisgarh – Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena on March 9 attacked a pastor and warned him to leave the Kawardha area. Massing near the Christian’s house, about 20 Hindu extremists called for Pastor Sanatan Masih of The Christian Church to come out of his home, and then they began beating him, reported the Evangelical Fellowship of India. In an earlier incident on Feb. 15, the extremists had threatened to harm the pastor if he conducted any Christian activity. On March 3 they broke into The Christian Church and vandalized it, and police refused to register the complaint of Christians. In the March 9 attack, Pastor Masih sustained injuries to his mouth, back and stomach. At press time, he had relocated as a safety measure.

Karnataka – Hindu radicals in Periyapattinam, Mysore brutally beat Pastor Ravi Chandran, 30, on March 8. The pastor was leading a prayer service at a house in Banavara village, Periyapattinam at 11:30 a.m. when 10 to 15 Hindu extremists forced their way into the house. They hit the pastor with soda bottles and kicked and punched him repeatedly before leaving. Pastor Chandran received hospital treatment for a leg injury and for swelling on his head. A native of Chankeshwara Puram, Periyapattinam, Pastor Chandran has been in church leadership for the seven years and ministers at Gospel in Action Fellowship, with about 35 believers. The attack was reported to Somvarpet police station.

Andhra Pradesh – Hindu extremists beat a Christian identified only as Pastor Devaraju of Good Shepherd Community Church on March 7, locked his church building and confined him to his house for several hours in Timmajipet, Mahabubnagar. The All Indian Christian Council reported that the pastor and church members had opposed Hindu extremists trying to bury a body in a Christian cemetery with Hindu rituals on March 5. In response the Hindus retaliated with the March 7 attack. They confined the pastor to his room for nearly a day, threatening to take possession of the church building and turn it into a local community hall. At press time local Christian leaders were trying to help resolve the matter.

Karnataka – Hindu extremists allegedly led by a municipal councilor on Feb. 28 accused Christians in Karwar of forceful conversion and beat them till they fell unconscious on a roadside. Led by Raja Gowda, the extremists at about 6:30 p.m. charged onto the premises of New Life Fellowship Church, where Christians David Lambani and Satish Ambedkar were staying. The extremists verbally insulted them and dragged them out to the street before beating them unconscious. The Christians were rushed to the hospital. Lambani’s left ear drum was damaged, while Satish sustained head injuries and broken bones. Police registered a First Information Report against the attackers, but no arrests had been made at press time. Legal documents for the church site had been obtained, but area village leaders had stopped construction on November 2009 and in February.

Chhattisgarh – State police on Feb. 28 arrested six Christians after extremists filed a false complaint of forcible conversion. The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) reported that Pastor Jose Thomas of the Indian Missionary Movement organized a meeting for around 40 Christians at Holy Kingdom English High School in Kawardha district. At around 2:30 p.m., a mob of nearly 50 Hindu nationalist extremists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh stormed into the school, verbally abused the Christians and made false allegations of forcible conversion. Kawardha police officials came to the school and arrested Pastor Thomas and five Christians, who were also charged with injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class. Police Inspector Surinder Singh told Compass that local resident Chandra Prakash had filed the complaint against the Christians, and that they were released on bail on March 9. Singh denied GCIC allegations that the Christians were beaten inside the police station.

Madhya Pradesh – Police arrested a Christian who goes by this a single name, Adhwan, on Feb. 20 on charges of forceful conversion. A source reported that officers accused the preacher of forceful conversion and had previously arrested him on Jan. 23 for alleged forceful conversion, when he was sent to Champa district jail. Authorities also confiscated his passport. He had been released on bail on Jan. 27. On Feb. 20 police arrested him again on the same charges and released him the next day. Attorney Anurag Nath told Compass that police had no grounds for the arrests.

Andhra Pradesh – Hindu extremists on Feb. 15 ostracized an elderly couple for following Jesus in Timmaipet, Mahabubnagar, Hyderabad. The All Indian Christian Council reported that Mullugula Buddaiah, 70, and his 60-year-old wife Pullamma were cast out of the community for their faith in Christ as the extremists ordered the couple to vacate their house and leave the village. An area pastor identified only as Devaraju filed a police complaint, which officers refused to register. Local Christian leaders were taking steps to resolve the matter at press time. 

Report from Compass Direct News