Jaipur: A Christian group from Andhra Pradesh has accused Rajasthan police of beating and detaining them for distributing religious literature in Jaipur, the state capital.
The Christians, who had come from various the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, were a tour of Jaipur for community service and religious meeting.
Some Hindu radicals clashed them on Wednesday afternoon when they were distributing religious literature at a crossing in Mansarovar area. A police control room van dispersed the crowd but it followed the Christians to their paying guest accommodation.
The local police, who came to resolve the issue, took the visitors to the Mansarovar station for interrogation. The police allegedly beat them, causing injuries to the hands and upper body of several Christians, reported indianexpress.com.
Satish Babu from Hyderabad, who was detained by the police, narrated: “We had come to propagate Christ’s message and did nothing to violate law and order here. But we were attacked by miscreants on the streets and then brutally beaten up by the police for no fault of ours.”
Mansarovar police Station House Officer Hemendra Sharma said, “We have detained them on the basis of some inputs and will release them if nothing suspicious is found.”
Samuel Roberts, a local activist, said, “We are filing a first information report against two police constables who beat them up mercilessly without any provocation. This is a clear violation of one’s freedom of speech.”