Pastor Attacked in Chhattisgarh

Pastor Charles Patel of Chhattisgarh is attaked during Sunday Service on 26^th Aug

This incidence took place today(26^th August07) at Priyadarshini Nagar near Maitri NagarBhilai Dist Durg in the Central Indian State of Chhattisgarh [Priyadarshini nagar is about 10 kms from Durg] Around 12:30pm. Church ,a Baptism Service in a nearby river and after that they came to the Church which is a house fellowship run at Bro S. D. Patel’s house in Priyadarshini Nagar As the Church Service was progressing on ,Bajrang Dal activists entered the Church premises and started shouting and then they entered the hall were the fellowship was going on, along with them came the Police. Police asked the Pastor to Stop the meeting. The Bajrang Dal Goons told the Police that these Church people are converting people to Christ. The Police summoned the members of the Church to go to the Police Station for an Inquiry. The whole Church of about 52 people old young children went to the Nevai Police Station at 2pm which is about 12 kms from Durg and 2kms from Priyadarshini Nagar.

The Police started interrogating all believers and the persons baptized and all of them were strong in faith so the Police could not find anything against them. The believers both new and old declared that they love Jesus and gave their personal testimonies. That they tasted the Lord and so they came to Christian faith. So at around 4pm 40 members consisting of ladies and children were allowed leave the station. Twelve members were detained for further investigation . The believers went home praising God When their allegations proved wrong, the Bajrang Dal Goons went out and hired some of their sympathizers to give False Testimony against Pastor and the Church. These hired radicals came and informed the Police that they were told to get converted and alleged that Rs. 500/- was offered to each one of them by the Pastor. The Police connived with the criminals and on the basis of false testimony arrested sixty-five year old Brother S. D. Patel and 35 year old Bro. Neeraj Martin The brothers from the Church saw clearly the Bajrang Dal Goons handing over the money to the fellows who gave false witness against the Pastors Bro S. D. Patel and his own brother. Charles Patel 56yrs old are Pastors in this
independent Church. S. D. Patel is retired from Bhilai Steel Plant in 2001 and then he started serving the Lord and Bro Charles Patel took Voluntary Retirement from Hindustan Steel Work Construction Ltd in 2001 and started serving the Lord. These brothers were in the Police Station from 2pm till 10:45 in the night.

The Police filed the FIR at around 9pm and at 10:45pm Bro Charles Patel and the others were allowed to go Bro S. D. Patel and Bro Neeraj Martin have been kept in Police Custody. They will be produced before the court tomorrow .Do special prayer for this dear brethren that the Lord may strengthen them and bless them richly and for an early bail hearing

Pastor Sam Mathew

GCIC Coordinator for M. P

Persecuted Church of India Yahoo Group.

Anti Conversion law in trouble

Chhattisgarh anti-conversion Bill runs into trouble
Wednesday August 22 2007
PTI
RAIPUR: After Gujarat, the anti-conversion Bill of the BJP government in Chhattisgarh has run into trouble as the governor has raised objections to some of its provisions, official sources on Tuesday said.

The governor has objected to some of the provisions of the dharma Swatantreya adhiniyam-2006 passed by the assembly in August last year, a top official told PTI here.
Governor E S L Narsimhan and his predecessor K M Seth had raised objections to two provisions in the Bill- obtaining permission from the district collector before any conversion or face punishment and allowing people to return to Hinduism and not treating this as conversion, the official said.

Such provisions were proposed in the existing law by the BJP government as the saffron party had alleged large-scale conversion of Hindus to Christianity during the previous Congress administration led by Ajit Jogi.

The governor wanted to know why the government thought of bringing in an amendment into the existing act which was in force since the days of undivided Madhya Pradesh, the official said.

The BJP came to power in Chhattisgarh, which was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000, in December 2003. Governors of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, all currently ruled by BJP, had also raised
objections to provisions in similar bills with Gujarat governor naval Kishore Sharma recently returning the Bill to Narendra Modi government.

www.newindpress.com

Christians attacked in Karnataka

From our Correspondent

Bangalore: Hindu fanatics attacked Christian believers gathered at a church in Amruthahalli of Yellehanka, Karnataka on 19 August 2007. The attackers wrote slogans and pasted symbols like Om all over the church walls and its gate.

Pastor Thomas Koshy, the minister in charge of Indian Pentecostal Church at Amruthahalli, who has been working at the village for the past six years, said a group of Hindus came to the church and asked him to stop the Sunday worship service. They blamed him for all conversions in the village and warned him of serious consequences if he did not obey them.

The Pastor decided to have the worship service in another place. So he went to consult his superior at Lingarajpuram. Unaware of the development, the believers began to arrive at the church. As they were waiting for the Pastor, a group of 40-50 Hindu fanatics arrived and started to attack the believers. While some of the believers ran away, some of them took shelter at the house of the Pastor. The attackers followed them and locked them up in the house.

One of the believers reported the police station at Yellahanka. The police arrived and freed the believers locked up inside the house. When the Pastor returned, he found the church building covered with Hindu slogans and symbols. The Police were trying to blame the Pastor for the development. They allegedly threatened the witness asking him to keep himself away.

The Pastor and his believers filed an FIR with the police. Although the police promised protection for the church, no arrest had been done so far. The owner of the building in which the believers gather was asking the Pastor to vacate the building. “The believers are also being threatened by the fanatics, who say they will beat and kill them if they try to gather at the church again,” sources said.

www.aiccindia.org

RSS attacks Christian Meeting in Uttar Pradesh

Reports have just come in that a huge mob of RSS and Bajrang Dal activists attacked the Kacchuwa Mission Hospital near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

The hospital authorities had organized an Independence Day celebration where in they had organized Children’s competitions and events in which about 400 Dalit Children were participating along with their parents. This was happening with the knowledge of the authorities and the police was duly informed about it.

The RSS and the Bajrang Dal raised an objection to it and had complained about the event to the local authorities which had prompted the local authorities to further investigate the event following which they gave a clean chit to the mission.

Infuriated by this the RSS and the Bajrang Dal today called on their cadre from various places near Varanasi and a huge mob attacked the mission at about 10:00 am. They destroyed property and caused mass vandalism and scared the children who started to run and took shelter at the back of the stage.

Brother Raju Abraham tried to reason with the group and asked them to speak with him so that things could be solved through dialogue but the attackers hit him and roughed him up. He has a deep wound above his left eyebrow. Pastor Joy who was with Brother Raju Abraham, when tried to stop the attackers was also beaten up.

According to reports the attackers shouted anti Christian and anti Dalit slogans and cause mass panic.

It was only later that the police reached the spot. Last heard the Local Magistrate had arrived on the scene and statements were being taken.

Please pray for the Christian leadership in this situation that they will be able to maintain a good testimony at this time.

Indians attacked on Independence Day

In a demoralizing incident on India’s 60th Independence Day, police in Mysore, India, told a group of 70 believers to stop offering Independence Day prayers without permission after Hindu radicals barged in to the prayer hall and disrupted them.

The pastors and the congregation of Full Gospel Church in the Mysore District of India’s Karnataka state gathered Wednesday at around 10:30 am in the morning to pray for the country when they were disrupted an hour later by a gang believed to be from Hindu groups Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

The RSS/VHP activists, numbering about 20, reportedly barged into the prayer meeting of the church and dragged out the pastors – Vinod Chacko, 32, and C.T. Joseph, 38 – along with church members Chinnaswamy and Salvino. They also abused the congregation and accused them of anti-national activities.
The pastors were then taken to Nangengode police station where police inspector Lakshmikanth Talwar and sub inspector Prabhakar – under pressure from radicals – told the pastors that no prayers can be held on Independence Day without police permission.

The pastors may have to appear before the police on Saturday, Aug. 18.

“Believers had gathered merely to offer prayers for their country in a peaceful manner,” a reporter for New Delhi-based Christian Today wrote in a report of the incident on Wednesday. “Instead of celebrating the Independence, which marks freedom for India, these radicals deny the freedom of worship for believers which the right inscribed in the constitution of Independent India granted them.

The report also noted that the incident is one of many amid the recent escalation of attacks on Christians in Karnataka state.

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