By Joseph C. DeCaro, BosNewsLife Special Correspondent with BosNewsLife Asia Service
KARNATAKA, INDIA (BosNewsLife)– A Pentecostal pastor in India’s state of Karnataka has been detained on charges of conducting “false religious conversions” after Hindu militants attacked him during a church service, the latest clash over spreading Christianity in the predominantly Hindu nation, representatives said Wednesday, October 13 .
Pastor Shivanda Siddi, 45, was taken into police custody on September 26 under legislation dealing with conversions, while holding a worship service at the Gnanodaya AG Church, said the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), a major advocacy group supporting churches and mission groups.
GCIC said police arrived at the scene after “several Hindu extremists physically attacked Siddi” during the service. The group said the Hindu mob “beat Siddi in front of his congregation for nearly half an hour, and then called police at the Yellapur station.” Police arrested Siddi, five women and two girls, according GCIC investigators.
While in police custody, Siddi was allegedly beaten again by the Hindu militants “while in the presence of the police” before being charged and to the regional Sirsi jail in Uttar Kannada, the group said. There was no immediate response from police and it was not clear which group was behind the reported attack.
Christian observers have suggested that this was no isolated incident in a nation where Hindu nationalist groups are increasingly active to stop the spread of Christianity in several areas of the heavily Hindu nation, according to human rights reports.
In its 2010 bi-annual report on major incidents of anti-Christian violence, the Evangelical Fellowship of India, a platform of evangelical churches, recorded 106 incidents of persecution with one-third coming from Karnataka alone.
