A month after a crowd of village Hindus in Jharkhand state, India
summoned 25 Christians, tied up six of them and beat them with sticks,
some of the assailants ran into one of the Christians and asked if he
was still worshipping Christ.
The Hindu extremists in Hunter village, Palamu District came across
Gunni Bhuiya on June 14 on an area road. Bhuiya told them he still
believed in and worshipped Christ, and the Hindu extremists manhandled
him and threatened to kill him, Christian leaders said.
“They told Bhuiya that as the Christians are still worshipping Christ
even after they had received severe beatings, they were now going to
kill them,” area pastor Sanjay Kumar Ravi told Morning Star News.
Area Christians are living in fear as the Hindu extremist forbid them
to worship, boycott them economically and threaten to kill them, while
police threatened to fine them if they continued worshipping publicly,
the leaders said.
Hindu extremists led by Dilip Chandra, Ram Chandra Vanshi and Dil
Narayan Yadav on May 8 summoned the 25 Christians from six families to a
public meeting, forcing them into vehicles and taking them to a middle
school on the outskirts of the village.
“About 100 people from three neighboring villages were waiting when
we reached the place and started to tell us that it is wrong for us to
pray to Jesus and that we should follow Hinduism and perform puja (Hindu rituals) to the idols only,” Pastor Ravi said.
The Christians refused. Rather, Pastor Ravi began sharing his
testimony with the crowd, saying Christ had healed him from an illness
in 2007, and that he has followed Him since then.
“The pastor’s testimony enraged the crowd more,” the Rev. Akash
Nandi, an area Christian leader, told Morning Star News, “and they
started to beat him and the other five Christian men while they shouted
that they should renounce Christ or else they will kill them. They told
them to chant, ‘Jai Shri Ram [Hail Lord Ram],’ perform the puja and worship the idols there and then.”
When the Christians refused, the furious Hindu extremists threatened to kill and bury them.
“They shouted to each other to bring kerosene oil so that they could burn us all,” Pastor Ravi said.
Nandi said the Christians told them, “Do whatever you like, we are not going to leave Christ at any cost.”
The extremists then tied the hands and the legs of six Christian men
and punched, kicked, slapped and beat them up with sticks, the leaders
said. The assailants then hung them upside down, took them down and beat
them again.
As the abuse went for about half an hour, a 5-year-old child, Eraj
Ram, begged the assailants to stop beating his father, Naresh Ram.
“He folded his hands and begged them to stop beating his father,
however, the extremists caught him by the collar and threw him aside,”
Pastor Ravi said.
Shouting that they should not worship Christ anymore, the extremists
then pushed the Christian men to the ground and stomped on them, the
Christian leaders said.
All six men were bleeding from their mouths, Naresh Ram’s hands were
broken and Pastor Ravi sustained an internal injury that left him with
severe chest pain, along with cuts on his hands and abrasions over much
of his body. Four other unidentified Christians suffered cuts and wounds
on their mouths, eyes, hands and legs.
“The extremists threatened to tie up the women as well while they
mocked and hurled all sorts of vulgar abuse at them,” Pastor Ravi said.
The assailants told the Christians to leave the village or else they
would shave them, burn them and set their houses on fire, he said. The
Christians managed to return to their homes and left the village at dawn
the next day. At Ramgarh village, they received medical treatment from a
local doctor.
Later that morning, the Christians went to Ramgarh police station to
report the attack to police, but officers declined to register a case,
and on May 10 they summoned the assailants to the police station. About
50 of the Hindus showed up to meet with three area Christian leaders
among the 25 Christians who arrived at the station. Police forced the
Christians to sign a statement that they would worship only in their
homes or else be fined 10,000 rupees (US$150), along with other possible
punishments.
“We were forced to sign the bond, we have no other choice as we have
nowhere else to stay except in the village,” Pastor Ravi said.
The Christians, impoverished “untouchable” Dalits, lost some benefits
when the village head came under pressure from the Hindu extremists to
exclude them. The Hindu extremists also ensured that the Christians were
denied rice, wheat, sugar and other goods at subsidized rates.
“Our names were also cut off from the list where houses were allotted
to the villagers by the state authorities,” Pastor Ravi said.
Likewise, on June 10 the Hindu extremists threatened Dharaya Singh
and his wife Sumitra Singh, saying they would keep them from plowing
their land and drive them from the village if they continued to worship
Christ.
“We can only pray in our homes with our respective family, our
movements are closely watched and the extremists told us to leave Christ
and threatened to beat us up at every opportunity they could find,”
Pastor Ravi said.
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