By Purushottam Nayak

Koraput: Panic has spread among Christians in an Odisha village after some 150 armed demolished a church under construction.

“Out of fear we had to remain in one house to escape being attacked,” Debo Bhoi, one of the Christians in Bodoguda, a village in Koraput district, told Matters India May 22.

According to him, the men demolished the church on May 16 as the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic continues to rage in India.

“We are more frightened of inhuman and cruel attack of the perpetrators than coronavirus today,” Bhoi said. He alleged that the attackers had tried to murder him last year as the land for the church was donated by his grandfather.

“They cannot tolerate Christians making a church in the area,” he said and added pastors Ayub Khora, Jitendra Khosla, Sudhakar Khosla have jointly filed a First Information Report (FIR) in Koraput police station.

“We claim immediate arrest and punishment of the perpetrators. They must give 200,000 rupees as compensation for demolishing the Church,” asserted Bhoi in his FIR. He also urged the authorities to guarantee social harmony and security for Christians.

Police inspecting the site
Koraput’s sub-divisional officer Gunonidhi Mallick said they have received the complaint dated May 17. Police have gone to the place for the investigation, he said.

The village has some 40 Christians in 12 tribal families belonging to fellowship denomination. It also has 60 Hindu families.

Pastor Sudhakar Khosla says they are threatened for practicing their constitutional right to freely profess, practice and propagate our religion. “In India, a secular country, Article 25 of the Constitution makes everyone entitled to freedom of conscience,” added secretary of the Pastors Association in Koraput.

“One should neither envy nor despise the other in accepting any faith,” asserted the 35-year-old pastor while urging Christians to stand united for the right cause.

Chacheri Bhoi, a villager, says the new Christians of the village have face threat, harassment and persecution for the past five years. “The perpetrators beat everybody,” said the 60-year-old Christian woman who was brutally beaten a year ago.

Pastor Khosla says the attack did not shake the woman’s faith in Jesus.