By Matters India Reporter
Bhatpur, July 12, 2020: Pastor Munsi Deo Tando was abducted and murdered in near Bhatpar, a village in the Gadchiroli district of the western Indian state of Maharashtra.
A group of Naxalites or Maoists came to the pastor’s house as he was concluding a 90-minute prayer service at 5:30 pm on July 10, reports Persecution Relief quoting Vijay Kumar, another local pastor.
The attackers, three of them women, caught the 30-year-old pastor and tied his hands behind his back.
They then took him around half a kilometer away and shot him dead, said Pastor Vijay Kumar. “His body was later discovered at the same spot,” he added.
Pastor Kumar went to the hospital, 13 km away from the village, where autopsy Pastor Munsi’s body was conducted.
“The pastor and his family faced a lot of persecution in the village because of their Christian faith. A few villagers did not approve of his Christian activities and openly opposed him. False allegations were made against him to the Naxalites,” Pastor Vijay alleged.
Pastor Munsi is survived by his wife Jaini and three young children, who are currently in a state of shock, says a press note from the Persecution Relief, an inter-denominational organization dedicated to helping the Church in India. It was founded in 2016 to provide support to the persecuted Indian Church by linking it to the free Church of the world. The initiative was taken by Shibu Thomas, an Indian evangelical preacher and social entrepreneur.
The local Christian community is in disbelief and saddened by the news, it adds.
“This is the third case of Christian persecution leading to murder in less than a month,” says the press note.
Samaru Madkami, a 14-year-old Christian boy, was hacked to death by zealots because of his faith in Jesus Christ. This happened in Kenduguda, a village in the Malkangiri district of Odisha, eastern India. He and his entire family had become Christians three years ago.
Kande Mudu was murdered by an armed group in Bari village in the Khunti district of Jharkhand, another eastern Indian state.
The group broke into Mudu’s home, attacked the 27-year-old and slit his throat. He and his family, who had accepted Jesus Christ four years ago, were being harassed by some local fundamentalists. Bindu Mudu, his wife and his two daughters, fled the village and their whereabouts are unknown. No arrests have been made thus far.
Persecution Relief recorded 293 cases of Christian Persecution In the first half of 2020. In 2019 it recorded 527 cases compared to 447 cases in 2018, 440 in 2017 and 330 in 2016.
The NGO has recorded 2,067 cases of hate crimes against Christians in India between January 2016 and June this year.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom in its 2020 report on “Countries of Particular Concern” has downgraded India to the one of the lowest rankings.