north-central state of Madhya Pradesh gang-raped two Christian women after the husband of one refused to deny Christ, a Christian news agency reported Friday, June 2.
The incident took place late Sunday, May 28, at Nadia village in Khargone district’s Bhagwanpura block, Compass Direct said. The victims were identified as converts who attended house prayer meetings of the Indian Evangelical Team (IET).
Local Christians were quoted as saying that villagers had beaten up Gokharya Barela, the husband of one of the victims, Sunday and took him forcibly to Sirvil village, about two kilometers (1.3 mile) from Nadia, where the village court gathered and asked him to abandon Christianity.
When he refused to give in to their demands, the village chief Pandya Patel allegedly forced Barela to drink wine and told locals they could feel free to rape Christian women.
FIVE ATTACKERS
“The five perpetrators and village head Patel are supported by a member of the state legislative assembly from the BJP, who lives in Pipal Jhopa village, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Nadia,” said a Christian source, requesting anonymity.
That night three men went to the house of Gokharya Barela, dragged his wife to nearby bushes and raped her. When her husband and a Christian friend tried to save her, other villagers accompanying the rapists reportedly beat them. They allegedly slapped and punched the two Christians numerous times and forced them to say “Ram-Ram,” a common greeting among certain Hindus.
Before Barela’s wife was raped, two other Hindu villagers went to the house of Garsia Barela, also a Christian, and dragged his wife onto the verandah and raped her, the source told Compass Direct.
Garsia Barela’s elderly mother-in-law was the only one at home with the victim at the time of the attack, but she was apparently unable to save her. There was no immediate reaction from the village chief who allegedly ordered the attacks.
POLICE INVESTIGATION
In a published statement police confirmed the rapes by five man but said a team was still investigating the claims. The attackers identified only as Lulla, Nandla, Kalu, Rewal Singh, and Sakaram, allegeldy threatened to kill the women if they filed a police complaint.
Leaders of the BJP did not condemn the attack but reportedly accused Christian missionaries from neighboring Maharashtra state of coming into the region to convert Hindus “by force.”
The source also said that the BJP was conspiring to implicate a worker of the IET in a false case of “forced conversion.” Sajan George, national convener of the Global Council of Indian Christians, reportedly said the perpetrators’ BJP backers were making the accusations “to insulate them from any future action by government agencies.”
A similar incident took place in a Jamanya village in Maharashtra last year when Hindu militant villagers attacked 11 Christian families, sexually assaulting the women, on May 16, 2005, when they refused to give up their faith. (With reports from India).
