Hindu nationalist politicians accused the Vatican of interfering. The call for peace was overshadowed by reports that Christians in India’s Chhattisgarh state try to recovers after a mob attack and torture in Surguja district.
At midnight on October 3 in Dumarbhavna village, Hindu nationalists reportedly broke open the door of a house where a three-day prayer meeting was taking place and attacked participants as they slept – ultimately forcing two Christians to beat one of their own prayer partners unconscious under threat of death.
‘RELIGIOUS ARMY’
The mob from the Hindu extremist Dharma Sena, or ‘Religious Army’ beat the participants in the prayer meeting, including women, and dragged three of them from the house of Parmeshwar Beik, Christian news agency Compass Direct News reported.
“We thought that they were taken to the police station, but instead they were taken to a secluded place where they were beaten all night,” Yahoshu Kujur, pastor of Blessing Church of God, reportedly said. Muneshwar Ekka and Beik were beaten first, and then the Hindu nationalists ordered them to beat the third captured Christian, Ravi Devangan, or be killed, Christians said.
Police reportedly deceived local Christians into believing that no complaint would be filed against the prayer team members for “forced conversion” if they would agree to file no complaints against the Hindu nationalists. Instead police reportedly registered a case of “forced conversion” against the three Christians under sections 3 and 4 of the Chhattisgarh Dharma Swantantraya Adhiniyam Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion Bil.
SMALL MINORITY
About 2.3 percent of India’s billion-plus population is Christian. Attacks by Hindu extremists on Christians have increased in recent months, especially in the eastern state of Orissa, where church officials say anti-Christian violence has left at least t 35 people dead since August and resulted in numerous churches being burned to the ground.
Hardline Hindu groups have long accused missionaries of bribing poor tribes people and low-caste Hindus to convert to Christianity by offering free education and health care. Missionaries have strongly denied these charges. Pope Benedict’s comments drew an angry reaction from India’s main opposition party, the Hindu nationalist BJP, which warned the pontiff against interfering in India’s internal affairs. "India is a sovereign country and I do not think any religious head should say anything," BJP spokeswoman Sushma Swaraj told the Agence France Presse (AFP).
That reaction was swiftly rejected by the Archbishop of Orissa, Raphael Cheenath. "The pope has got every right to speak for those of us hit by violence of the worst kind," Cheenath said. "His words were a great consolation to the suffering Christians in Orissa and elsewhere in India." (With reporting from India).
