01/27/2021 India (International Christian Concern) – According to the Union of Catholic Asia News (UCAN), a Christian prayer gathering in India was recently terrorized by a group of radical Hindu nationalists. Reports claim the radicals falsely accused the Christians of conducting illegal religious conversions to justify their attack.
Yesterday, January 26, more than 100 radical Hindu nationalists broke into a Christian media center in Indore, a city located in India’s Madhya Pradesh state, to terrorized Christians gathered for a prayer meeting. The radicals accused the Christians of violating Madhya Pradesh’s newly enacted anti-conversion law as justification for their actions.
The Catholic authorities who own the Christian media center describe the incident as an attack on Christians peacefully gathered for prayers.
“We give our space in the center to different Christian denominations, including Pentecostal groups, for prayer meetings,” Father Babu Joseph, the center’s director, told UCAN. “On January 26 too, we gave it to a Pentecostal group for holding the prayer service.”
While no Christians were injured in the incident, Father Joseph reports that many are shaken. The radicals shouted anti-Christian slogans and damaged several pieces of property as they terrorized the Christians gathered for prayer.
Police were notified of the incident and have registered charges against 15 people for trespass. An investigation into the incident has been launched.
On January 9, the state government of Madhya Pradesh enacted a new anti-conversion law which it touted as the most stringent in India. Since then, many radical Hindu nationalists have been encouraged to harass Christians and shut down their places of worship.
For interviews, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: press@persecution.org.
