By BosNewsLife Asia Service
The Global Council of Indian Christians, which represents churches and mission groups, said it has learned that around 50 Christians were “threatened and terrorized” on December 5 in the Kenger Upanagara slum in the city of Bangalore when “extremists” attacked their church.
Elsewhere in the district of Shimoga, four Christians were reportedly dragged from their churches and beaten up in two separate incidents. The victims were then arrested by police on “false charges of trying to convert Hindus,” the Council said. That same day a group of 40 Hindu militants reportedly surrounded another church in Bangalore, throwing stones and shouting anti-Christian slogans.
Sajan George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians, said the incidents were “reflective of the insecurity of the vulnerable minority Christian community”, and said such violence was “an indication of the climate of fear, persecution and harassment and terror in which Christians must practice their faith” in Karnataka.
Karnataka is governed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which came to power in May 2008. Since then there have been more than 200 anti-Christian incidents as part of a rise in violence against Christians in the heavily Hindu nation of over 1 billion people, according to rights groups.
