ordered them to demolish their house church, while elsewhere in India fellow believers are reportedly weighing their options after being forced to bow for Hindu idols.
Monday’s court case will come amid growing concerns among human rights groups about what they see as increased pressure by Hindu militants on tribal Christians, one of India’s ancient and most impoverished groups, BosNewsLife learned.
Vasantbhai Somabhai Chaudhary, head of Hindoliya village in Gujarat’s Surat district’s Bardoli Taluka area, ordered Christian Rameshbhai Chaudhary earlier this month to demolish his house church because of alleged «forcible conversions," Indian Christians said. He had reportedly used the accommodation for Bible study and worship.
The court case launched by the believers comes as other Christian tribals in the state of Karnataka state were recovering Thursday, November 2, after allegedly being forced to bow down before Hindu idols. Hindu militants reportedly prohibited Pastor Revanna Naik and his congregation from worshiping on Sunday, October 29, and forced them to worship Hindu deities.
CHRISTIANS REFUSE
Three of the 11 Christian families at the church in the remote Kurumaradikere village, in Chitradurga district, refused to bow before the idols or participate in a ceremony that would indicate allegiance to the Hindu deities, Compass Direct News agency said. The local council chief reportedly ordered the village to ostracize those families.
“This stigma of ostracization will crush the very spirit of the Lambani, who are very clan-oriented people,” Dr. Sajan George, national president of the Global Council of Indian Christians, a major advocacy group. “This is the worst form of punishment that could be meted out to these Christians who stood firm in their Christian faith.”
Local police reportedly ordered Pastor Naik, who visits the congregation on Sundays and every other Wednesday from his home 39 kilometers (24 miles) away, not to enter Kurumaradikere village again. He has gone into hiding. Officials could not be reached for comments.
CHRISTIANITY SPREADING
Church observers have linked the incidents to concerns among Hindu nationalists about the spread of Christianity among tribals and ‘Dalits,’ also known as the ‘untouchables’ as they are seen as the lowest caste in India’s ancient system of Hinduism.
Missionaries have also come under pressure as well. In an unrelated incident a Hindu militant convicted to life imprisonment in the triple murder case of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons Philip, 10, and Timothy, 6, was acquitted by a trial court in another case this week BosNewsLife monitored Thursday, November.
The district and sessions judge in Baripada Sribatsa Pradhan acquitted Rabindra Kumar Pal, also known as Dara Sigh, October 30 along with 12 others accused of burning a truck and murdering a Muslim. However he is still facing trial in two other cases in the same court — the killing of Catholic priest Arul Doss and the murder of Shaikh Rehman, a Muslim trader at Padiabeda, the Press Trust of India (PTI) said. (With BosNewsLife Monitoring and repoirts from India).
