Hindu extremists attack pastors, disrupt worship, and “reconvert” 70 Dalit Christians on Easter.

NEW DELHI – At least three pastors were attacked and 70 Dalit Christians were “reconverted” to Hinduism on Easter Sunday. On Maundy Thursday police arrested a fourth pastor on false charges of “conversion.”

These incidents followed violent attacks on two Palm Sunday processions and the beating and torture of yet another pastor during the Lenten season.

Dharma Sena (Religious Army) militants attacked Christians April 1 (Palm Sunday), injuring seven Christians during final prayers at St. Paul’s Church, of the Church of North India denomination in Gokulpur, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. In the second incident, two Christians in Damoh district suffered serious head injuries in an attack by unidentified extremists on a procession largely comprised of Sunday school children from local churches. The attack occurred as the group stopped at a shop for sugar cane juice. (See Compass Direct News, “India Briefs,” April 3). Hindu extremists beat two pastors of Believers’ Church on April 8 (Easter) in Salwa village in Mandla district.

Extremists visited the house of two young pastors, Dinesh Toppo and Chandan Chhinchani, in Salwa village in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandla district on Easter and began interrogating them, a local source told Compass. Toppo and Chhinchani moved to Salwa village about three months ago to lead a local Believers’ Church run by Gospel for Asia.

The extremists ransacked the house and beat the pastors. Then they forcibly dragged them from the house, and hit and kicked them, hurling insults as villagers watched. The attackers alleged that the pastors were indulging in “conversion” and sex trade.

Later that day, local police summoned the Christians to the station for interrogation, as the attackers had lodged a false complaint against them. The police arrested the pastors April 9, but they were subsequently released on bail.

Hindu extremists had launched two earlier violent attacks on Christians on Palm Sunday (April 1) in two separate incidents in Jabalpur and Damoh districts of Madhya Pradesh. At least nine Christians received injuries in the attacks. (See Compass Direct News, “India Briefs,” April 3)

Himachal Pradesh Attack
In a similar fashion, about 60 extremists allegedly belonging to the Bajrang Dal youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council), stormed a house church’s Easter worship in Krotal village, Shirad Valley, in Himachal Pradesh’s Manali area. The attack occurred at about 11 a.m., when around 25 believers were worshiping.

Sam Abraham, secretary general of the Himachal Pradesh state chapter of the All India Christian Council (AICC), told Compass that the intruders beat the pastor, Yona Babu, of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

The attackers entered the prayer room and sat quietly in the meeting. One by one they started making noise, Abraham said. They demanded that Babu burn Bibles and forsake the Christian faith. When he refused, they beat him until he lost consciousness. The perpetrators fled with the church’s literature and musical instruments. Abraham told Compass that Babu had not reported the incident to the police at press time.

In addition, the same extremists who attacked Babu disrupted another small independent church in Pathilikundu, near Manali, Abraham said, but no casualties were reported.

Since the passing of the anti-conversion bill in Himachal Pradesh on December 30, 2006, the April 8 incident is the sixth reported anti-Christian attack in the state, Abraham said.