ICC Note:
Another church in India’s central state of Chhattisgarh has been attacked by Hindu radicals during a Sunday service. The radicals claimed that forced conversions were taking place at the church, which was the reason for their assault. Yet, when the police were called to the location, the radicals fled. A police report has been filed against unknown people and 7 have been arrested in connection with the attack. This attacks comes at a time when religious intolerance and attacks on Christians and their places of worship are escalating in India. In Chhattisgarh, over 50 villages passed unconstitutional resolutions banning the practice of Christianity in 2014. To enforce these bans, local Hindu radicals began a social boycott against over 300 Christian families living in the villages where these bans took effect. Unfortunately, India’s government has recently termed attacks on Christians and religious minorities as “aberrations” and is yet to take effective measures to stop this trend.
3/7/2016 India (Times of India) – Claiming it to be a function for religious conversion, alleged right-wing activists attacked and vandalized a Church in Chhattisgarh during Sunday prayer, injuring five people including two women.
Situated in Kachana colony of the state capital, a group of youth stormed the prayer hall, raising “Jai Sriram” slogans, and began attacking the worshippers. An FIR has been lodged against unidentified persons under serious sections.
According to eye witnesses, around 15 people on 8-9 bikes arrived at the spot while the Sunday prayer was going-on in the church, a red-coloured small room situated at the end of the road which further had just barren fields.
Chanting the name of Lord Ram (Jai Shree Ram), the men entered inside the church, attacked women, ripped their clothes off and also thrashed infants. Furniture and fans were also vandalized by the miscreants who warned the people who were taking part in the prayer to become Hindu.
“They began alleging that people were being converted here. They fled before police could reach at the spot. However the cops could recover three of the bikes. They desecrated the Bible and some of the pictures that were hung on the wall,” informed Chhattisgarh Christian Forum President Arun Pannalal.
While the people who were observing the prayer left the spot after police’s interrogation, the locals of the area seemed irritated with rounds of questions put-up by cops and media.
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