India is ranked 10th on Open Doors’ 2020 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
Hindu radicals set up a statue of one of their gods next
to a pastor's home after forcing him and his church to
leave in this undated photo. | Gospel for Asia
to a pastor's home after forcing him and his church to
leave in this undated photo. | Gospel for Asia
Christian Post
Hundreds of radical Hindu nationalists attacked a house church in India’s Haryana state and kidnapped the pastor, forcing him to sit before idols before leaving him badly injured.
Morning Star News reports that earlier this month, a mob of some 250 to 300 radicals surrounded a small house church led by Pastor Jai Singh in Bichpari village, located about an hour north of Delhi, in India’s Haryana state. About 30 assailants broke into the church and attacked Pastor Singh and the other Christians gathered for worship.
“They pushed me to the floor and I could not understand who was kicking me, who was slapping or beating on my back,” Singh told the outlet. “As a huge crowd surrounded me, I could only see their hands and shoes kicking me. They picked me up from the floor and took me inside [the] home and told me that I should go with them, if not they would kill me there on the spot.”
The assailants took Singh to a school where he was forced to sit before idols and was further beaten with wooden sticks. Later that day, he was taken to the Gohana police station where he was “severely bruised and howling in pain.”
Police took him to the hospital, but when he returned to the station he had been falsely accused of forcefully converting Hindus to Christianity. The next day, on Jan. 6, Singh was presented before a judge and sent to judicial custody.
“Unknown persons in plainclothes were driving me to the court and then to the jail,” he recalled. “At first I suspected that they must not be a police officer as the persons were not in uniform. The journey from court to jail was torturous, as this person in plainclothes abused in vulgar Haryanvi language. He abused my family members, including my wife and children. I kept quiet and said in my heart, ‘Oh Lord, if it is in Your will, then let it be, but give me strength to endure this. I am weak. I need you.’”
According to ADF-India, more than 300 cases of mob violence against India’s Christian community were documented in 2019, yet police prosecuted the perpetrators in only 40 cases. The group claims police often work in tandem with Hindu extremists to harass and persecute religious minorities.
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