By Matters India Reporter

New Delhi, Feb 25, 2020: Even as India prepared to welcome the American President Donald J Trump, who on his two-day visit to India reportedly plans to discuss, among other things, the issue of religious freedom in India with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Religious Liberty Commission (RLC) of the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) registered nine incidents of hate crime and violence on Indian Christians over the weekend.

From Feb 21 to 23, the RLC recorded nine incidents targeting Christians and their congregations including disruption of worship services, intimidation from police machinery and mob violence. Such incidents around weekends and especially on Sunday have become a regular phenomenon for Christians in many parts of India, Reverend Vijayesh Lal, national director of Religious Liberty Commission of EFI, said in a press note.

One incident was also reported from Chhattisgarh on Feb 20 evening taking the total number of incidents to ten in the last three days.

The Commission condemns such dastardly acts that encroach upon the rights of the Christian minority to practice and profess its faith, Lal said.

Not surprisingly, the majority of the incidents took place in Uttar Pradesh which recently has been a hotbed as far as the targeting of minorities is concerned.

The state ruled by Yogi Adityanath, who is also a serving Abbot of a Math (Temple) in Gorakhpur, recorded five incidents out of the 10.

Tamil Nadu followed with two incidents while one incident each was reported from Telangana, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

The incidents are described below in brief chronologically:

On February 20 in Tikanpal village near Kirandul, Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh, a Christian family was brutally beaten because of their faith.

The Christians were under pressure from religious radicals to recant their faith and that became the reason for the attack on them. Podiya Tati, his wife and children and Tati’s mother were all beaten up by assailants that included Baman Tati, Lisa Tati, Raju Tati and others.

The attackers not only beat them up but also broke their house, broke the bore well, burnt their paddy and other eatables, and forcefully took away the chickens that the family-owned.

Somehow the Christians saved their lives and got admitted at the Kirandul Government hospital for treatment. The attackers have threatened to kill the Christians.

On February 21 in Bayara village of Sant Kabir Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, Christians were verbally abused and threatened. They were warned not to conduct worship services. Pastor Jagat Narayan sought help from an officer at the Khalilabad police station but instead was warned to leave Christianity or be ostracized from the community.

On February 21 in Sathankulam town in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu, seven Christian pastors were taken into police custody. They were brutally assaulted and verbally abused by the officer-in-charge for propagating the Christian faith. They were later released.

On February 22 in Nehtaur city in the Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh, police arrested Pastor Dinesh for the crime of holding a prayer service. He was later released.

On February 22 in Moula Ali suburb of Hyderabad in Medchal-Malkajgiri district of Telangana, Pastor Austin Dinaker and some church members of the Church of South India’s Wesley Church, located in Sanjay Colony, were stalked and physically assaulted by religious radicals while they were returning home from a worship service.

On February 22 in Shiv Katra locality of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, religious radicals attacked Christians during a prayer service and caught hold of Pastor Ruben and Pastor Prabhakar who belong to the Assembly of Believers Church. They were taken to the Rama Devi police station.

On February 23 in Karimuddinpur village in Mohammadabad tehsil of Ghazipur district in Uttar Pradesh, ten Christians, including Pastor Shivshankar, were taken into police custody. Earlier police personnel barged into a private home where the Christians had gathered and were praying peacefully.

On February 23 in Redwa Kalan village in Abu Road Tehsil of Sirohi district in Rajasthan, police arrested Pastor Simon Zachariah, his wife and two sons. The pastor was conducting a Sunday prayer service with Christians when around 200 villagers surrounded the house and called the police.

On February 23 in Elakurichi village in Ariyalur taluk of Ariyalur district in Tamil Nadu, a mob comprised of religious radicals barged into a church service and disrupted it. They brutally beat Pastor Anbumohan and church members and took them to a nearby police station where the police kept the Christians in custody the entire day without providing the much-needed medical attention.

On February 23 under Motipur police station of Bahraich district in Uttar Pradesh, police raided Pastor Harinath’s house right after the pastor had concluded a worship service. Since the pastor was not at home police left after a verbal tirade of threats and abuses directed at his wife.

“We urge Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to take cognizance of these regular spates of violence against the minority community and provide security and protection so that the fundamental right to practice, profess and propagate the faith would not be hampered,” Lal said.

He also appealed others write and call to the Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh along with the Prime Minister, appealing them to safeguard the rights of the religious minority communities and to provide protection to churches against attacks and to take immediate action against the perpetrators of violence.

The EFI was founded in 1951 as the central network of evangelicals in India. Its members include more than 50 Protestant denominations and related congregations (over 60,000 Churches), over 150 Christian and humanitarian organizations and thousands of individual members.
EFI is a charter member of the World Evangelical Alliance, an accredited NGO with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It is also a constituent member of the National United Christian Forum.