women and children, for refusing to give up their faith in Christ, BosNewsLife established Saturday, May 21. News reports said the attacks happened Sunday, May 15, and Monday, May 16 in Jamanya village in Jalgaon district, amid growing concern among human rights watchers about escalating Hindu violence in India.
Village officials had summoned the families to a community court on Sunday "and asked them to renounce their faith. When the families refused, the men were beaten with heavy sticks and chased from the village," Compass Direct news agency reported, quoting local sources.
On Monday, May 16, the mob reportedly attacked the women and children and witnesses apparently saw how "some children fainted after being beaten."
MOB AGAINST WOMEN
Witnesses also said the mob tried "to disrobe the women". Police are investigating the case, and local Christians say they will push for a resolution to the three years of hostility in the village, Compass Direct said.
The violence came as AsiaNews, a Catholic oriented news website, said four people were detained in the north-eastern Indian state of Orissa last week for handing out copies of the Bible to residents of Rajnagar Block region.
The police action came reportedly in the wake of rising religious tensions after the alleged conversion of 300 Hindu families to Christianity in Rajnagar. AsiaNews said that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the armed wing of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, had threatened protests if the police "failed to act against those responsible for violating the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act."
CONTROVERSIAL LAW
Under that controversial legislation all would-be converts would be obliged to inform the district authorities of their decision and obtain letters for permission. Police officials were quoted as defending the arrests.
"The area is already tense, and open distribution of the Bible at such a time could add fuel to the fire. That is why we arrested the four young men and detained them," Sistikantha Kanungo, officer in charge of the Rajnagar police station, was quoted as saying.
AsiaNews identified the detained Christians as Ashok Namalpuri, 28, from Chalakamba (Nayagarh district), Gorachand Pal, 22, from Gaeba (Gajapati district), Siddheswar Nayak ,29, and Bimal Wilson ,22, from Koraput.
They had come to Rajnagar in January and were immediately accused of proselytizing and trying to influence school children because they taught at two primary schools for free over the last five months, AsiaNews reported. (With BosNewsLife reporters in India and BosNewsLife Research).
