concern of violence against the Christian minority in the region.
Mission group Hopegivers International (HI) organized the prayer chain after several reported attacks by Hindu militants in recent weeks against individual Christians and Christian properties, including churches and one of its orphanages in the Indian state of Rajasthan, as well as in other areas of India.
On Thursday, February 23, HI said it was forced to abandon what would have been the largest ever graduation ceremony for 10,000 Christian ‘dalit’ students in the city of Kota in Rajasthan, because police warned of Hindu violence against them. Smaller graduate ceremonies in other areas have taken place however.
Most of the graduates were’dalits’, the term used for the so-called "untouchables" of India, up to 300-million people, who occupy the lowest place in the country’s ancient caste system of Hinduism.
This weekend’s prayers were focused on "dalits and the scheduled castes and Christian minorities in Rajasthan" as well as those "who are suffering in jails, especially those who are falsely accused and guilty only of exercising their free consciences," HI said. It urged supporters to pray for "the rescue of the persecuted from those in high places who have betrayed their oaths of office by permitting violence and vandalism against the people of God."
WORLDWIDE PRAYERS
Christians around the world are believed to have participated in the ongoing prayer sessions, which were held at a time when US President George W. Bush visited the region. Even during the prayer vigil, persecution of Christians was reported.
US-based based human rights group International Christian Concern (ICC) with website www.persecution.org told BosNewsLife it had learned that in one of the latest incidents three pastors were released last week from hospital after they were "severely attacked by a group of Hindu fundamentalists" on February 26.
They were released March 1 from the hospital in Maharashtra state where they received treatment for "serious injuries to their heads, shoulders and legs," ICC claimed. The incident reportedly took place in Nere village, Panvel Taluka in Raigad district, near the state capital Mumbai on Sunday February 28 as Rev. K.M. Philip, Rev. Biju Samuel and Rev. Reggie Thomas were leaving for a prayer meeting.
The angry mob was allegedly from the Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad or World Hindu Council, ICC said. ICC repotted that the victims belong to a Christian non-profit organization, Social and Evangelical Association for Love (SEAL), which works for the rehabilitation of neglected children, terminally ill and destitute people found on the streets and railway platforms. SEAL, which was founded by Philip, runs a home for the destitute at Vankani village, about two kilometers (about 1.3 miles) from Nere, where the incident took place.
DRIVERS FIGHTING
The troubles allegedly began after a motorbike driving started fighting with a female driver of a car that had hit him earlier. The church leaders, who tried to calm down both drivers, were apparently attacked by the motorbike driver and about 50 people many of them wielding iron bars.
Philip was quoted as saying that he and his two fellow church leaders were "subjected to intense beating for about one hour." He claimed he and his colleagues had already been attacked "at least nine times before because we are Christians."
Local police inspector Pradeep Mane reportedly denied that the three were attacked because they were Christians. He said the person driving the motorbike asked for money from the lady driving the car. After the lady promised payments, the three allegedly asked her not to promise any money to him. "This made the man furious and he, along with his relatives, beat them," Mane said in published remarks.
Eight attackers were reportedly arrested. Human rights groups have said however that Hindu mobs have been active in several parts of India. Christians comprise roughly 2.3 percent of India’s nearly 1.1 billion, mainly Hindu, population. (With reports from India and BosNewsLife Research).
