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Pastor beaten to unconsciousness by Hindu activists for evangelising - now facing sentence under anti-conversion laws - British Asian Christian Association
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By Editor24 February 2022No Comments
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Despite the violence and after being hit herself the Pastors wife holds her husband up after he falls unconscious.
We have the name of the Pastor referred to in this article, we know the name of the town in which the attack took place and we are communicating directly with him.  He has for now asked for these personal details not to be shared because he is facing severe death threats.
A young Indian Pastor suffered a public beating by Hindu fanatics in Madhya Pradesh till the young Pastor was unconscious.
Police initially took the unconscious Pastor to their police station for arrest under anti-conversion laws, but thought better of it when he did not revive.
After spending 12 days in Hospital the Pastor was discharged and immediately imprisoned and interrogated by police.
The Pastor then spent 3 days in a prison cell before being released on bail and is now facing a court case under Madhya Pradesh’s Anti Conversion laws.
The Pastor recovering after the attack
The Pastors wife try’s to protect her husband from further beatings after he collapses into a state of unconsciousness.
A young Indian Christian Pastor (name not shared to protect identity) of  37 years of age was brutally attacked till unconscious in the state of Madhya Pradesh on 14th January 2022.
The Pastor had felt a calling to share the Gospel with local Hindus in his local community and to facilitate this began a small prayer and fellowship meeting every Friday in his home.  Meetings were being held from 11.30am to 1.30pm and around 10 – 12 people attended most weeks.
While a small congregation of 5 people were praying in the Pastors house with the Pastor and his wife, they heard a knock on the door.  One of the congregants opened the door  and suddenly 35 -40 crazed Hindu fanatics entered the Pastors home and started beating the assembled worshippers.
The large gang of Hindus who were a mixture of middle-aged and young people had come equipped to do harm.  Some carried wooden sticks and all of them furiously beat the Pastor, his wife and the 5 worshippers.  The Pastor was their main target however and he was hit all over his body and face, while dragged out of the house into the streets for public humiliation.  The beating was so severe that at one point the Pastor simply collapsed from pain and exhaustion and was unconscious.
As the Pastor is dragged out of his home to be beaten you can see his terrified wife holding on to her youngest child.
Blood could be seen flowing from his nose, mouth and ears but this did not stop the violence as the blood thirsty Hindu gang beat him to within an inch of his life. The Pastors wife can be seen in the video below beseeching with gang members to stop their violence but they ignored the terrified woman’s please as they set out to ritually clean their streets of hated Christians.
When the Hindu gang began to focus on the Pastor the 5 congregants used the moment to slip away and fled the area.  Leaving the vulnerable wife to contend with the crazed gang as her husband lay there unconscious.
Men try to drag the unconscious body to the Police station for an alleged breach of anti-conversion laws. Pastors wife and some peaceful neighbours try to stop them a stick is wielded at end of video and wife is hit off camera and told to let go of her husband of face more severe beating.
One of the men involved in the beating called the police once the Pastor stopped flinching when hit and sought the Pastor’s arrest under the newly adopted Freedom of Religion Act 2021 which replaced with the same provisions the Freedom of Religion Ordinance 2020.  Read more (here)
Police arrived at the incident location 3o minutes after the attack had ended.  Ignoring the report of violence by the Pastors wife they listened to the Hindu aggressors and arrested the unconscious Christian and took him to one of the Dhar district police stations (we will not identify further yet) and placed the Pastor in a cell.  When the Pastor did not revive, more senior police officers made a decision to taken the unconscious body to Government Hospital Madhya Pradesh for treatment, the next day the Pastor was taken by Police to a district hospital and on the third day after a relatives request the police allowed the Pastor to travel with his family to Manorama Private Hospital, Barwani.  After being treated for 12 days the Pastor was discharged on 1st February 2022 but his problems had not ended there.
The Pastor was required to visit his Local Police Station on discharge from the hospital.  When he arrived hoping to clarify that he had broken no laws and to register a crime against the perpetrators of the attack, police arrested him to his chagrin.  The pastor was then remanded to a sub-jail for 3 days.
The Pastor has spoken directly with our British Asian Christian Association, representative in India, he said;
“Despite the violent attack on me that resulted in over two weeks hospitalization, not one attacker has been arrested or booked.
“When police arrived at the scene my wife asked for the attackers to be arrested, police ignored her pleas and obvious distress.
“Police failed to gather evidence of the attack including many rods, poles and sticks that were still lying on the ground when they arrived.
“These weapons were incriminating evidence that would have had fingerprints of the true felons and my blood on them.
“The police ignored the evidence of the attack on me but have ceased my Holy Bible copy from my home.
“This is apparently now being used to implicate me in a crime of forced conversion through preaching.”
On  4th Feb 2022 Bail was granted to the Pastor via a High Court Advocate.
BACA has offered to provide funds to pay his advocate and financial assistance for medical costs faced by the Pastor.  We need to raise at least £800 for the advocate and hospital fees close to £600.  If you would like to help with these costs then please donate by clicking (here).
Dr Vuchula Satayanadam, BACA Operations Manager for India, said:
“This whole situation is unjust.
“A Christian Pastor has been beaten up because of offence taken by local Hindus that he was successfully preaching the Word of God which is not a criminal offence.
“There is absolutely no evidence that the Pastor has coerced anyone to Christianity or allured them by other means.
“Even then a Pastor who was nearly killed in an attack is being investigated for a false allegation of forced conversion.
“While attempted murderers have not even been questioned.
“This is a dangerous path to follow for India that will no doubt receive international condemnation.”
Juliet Chowdhry, Trustee for the British Asian Christian Association, said:
“Article 14 of the Indian Constitution speak of Equality of the Law and Article 15 prohibits discrimination even by faith.  Read constitution of India (here)
“Yet, here we have a classic example of the Hindutva (Indian Nationalism) bias that  threatens the very existence of minorities in India.
“Madhya Pradesh was the second state in India to have adopted Anti-conversion laws in 1968, but these have been toughened in 2021.
“The Hindu majority in the state have always found it hard to palate the existence of Christians and other minorities.
“The current right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party regime (click here), fuel that hatred to even higher levels.”
“Roving gangs of fundamental Hindus are constantly finding new Pastors to attack and accuse of forced conversions.
“Police forces ignore the violent attacks and arrest the injured Pastors even if unconscious as was the case in this incident.
“India has ratified international laws on Human Rights but fails to meet required obligations persistently.
“Instead of taking action, the western world ignores the plight of many suffering Christians and other minorities as realpolitik  and trade take centre stage in dialogue.
“This situation can and will only get worse.”
Though India has no plans for a Nationwide Anti-conversion law the Federal Government has agreed an ordinace that is being taken up by an increasing number of states. Penalties brought in with these anti-conversions laws include a prison term of three to ten years and fines of between 25,000 and 50,000 rupees (£250-£500).  Even Larger fines exist for people convicted of using marriage to pursue a conversion.
Anyone who wishes to officially change religion, along with religious officiates (such as pastors) performing the conversion, will be required to apply to the district administration 60 days in advance.
In nearly every recent debate in state parliaments discussing the implementation of anti-conversion laws the concept of a “Love-Jihad,” is brought up. Often the laws are implemented with a desire to stop the operations of alleged Muslim organisations who lure non-Muslim girls into marriage with Muslim men, and oblige these brides to convert to Islam in accordance with sharia (Islamic law).
Unfortunately, an increasing number of Hindu activists use these laws to falsely implicate Christian Pastors who are involved in legal evangelism.
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