Hindu Extremists Assault Rajasthan Christians

(Compass) – Hindu extremists have violently assaulted several Christians in Rajasthan , India , in recent weeks. Bajrang Dal volunteers attacked eight members of the Friends Missionary Prayer Band on March 13, and falsely accused Pastor Arthur Joel, a Christian orphanage director, of child abuse in early March. Two other Emmanuel Mission workers, Pastor Vaalu and his eight-month-pregnant wife, were brutally assaulted on a public bus in late February. Demonstrators have also called for the closure of many Christian institutions across the state. Locals say the attacks are a strategy to push forward the enactment of anti-conversion laws, an intention announced by the state government on February 23.