Two Christians were arrested by local police for distributing Christian literature in Amaravati,
The two missionaries - a Christian woman from
Hindu activists who noticed the activity alerted the local police who in turn arrested them under Sections 296 and 298 of the Indian Penal Code for causing disturbance and wounding religious feelings respectively
They were finally released on bail on the intervention of local Christian leaders.
Stir against Christian preacher in Andhra Pradesh
Enraged activists of the ''Jagan Yuva Sena'' stormed a star hotel here, where Paul had been staying, and raised slogans against the preacher for making 'baseless' allegations against the Chief Minister as also Housing Minister B Satyanarayana.
Policemen providing security to the hotel brought the situation under control and dispersed the activists.
The Congress activists had taken to stirs in different parts of the State after the preacher also charged that Dr Reddy did not arrange for the visit of party President Sonia Gandhi to his orphanage for failing to provide the amount.
--- UNI
Pastor Mukesh Pal has been running a church in Rajgarh, Madhya Pradesh. On 3rd June, a mob owing allegiance to the RSS appeared at his house at 2:30 pm, stopped the meeting which was going on and dispersed the participants by threatening them with dire consequences if they stayed. They then proceeded to systematically wreck the house and left after warning the pastor against continuing his work in the area.
In a separate incident, a pastor in Kharward district was attacked at his home on the same day. Pastor Bheem Singh pastors a church in the region. On 3rd June, he had returned home after the Sunday morning service when his house was attacked. His aged father suffered a fractured leg and his wife suffered injuries. Both have been admitted to hospital. Police have registered a case.
KOCHI: The Muslim and Christian communities in India do not deserve to be classified as minorities and as such are not entitled to special benefits either in admissions or in the running of educational institutions, Subramaniam Swamy, former Union Law Minister and president of the Janata Party has said.
He was talking after inaugurating a national seminar on `Minority Rights in Education - Logics and Fallacies' organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.
Dr. Swamy, in his speech, went on to define `minority' on the basis of a set of conditions.
He said that Muslims and Christians should voluntarily give up reservation benefits if they were to be treated on an equal footing.
He urged the AVBP to oppose tooth and nail any attempt to provide reservation to Muslims and Christians in educational institutions.
Priest at RIMS after attack
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Ranchi, May 15: A 45-year-old priest, identified as George Minj, has been shifted to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences Ranchi (RIMS) in a serious condition after he was beaten up by some unidentified youths late last evening.
Minj is currently the in-charge of Garha Lodhma parish under the Roman Catholic Church, under Bharno police station in Gumla. The priest, who sustained serious head injuries, is admitted at the neuro ward of RIMS for advanced treatment.
The incident occurred yesterday evening after Minj was returning from Kharsanga Village under Bharno police station in Gumla, some 65-km from Ranchi.
“I had gone to see the people there following reports of an outbreak of malaria. Around 7.30 pm, while I was returning to my parish some youths attacked me. The area where I was waylaid was near a dense forest adjoining the village area,” Minj said.
According to Minj, the attackers were carrying sticks and they had hit him on the head several times unless he lost consciousness. His left eye is badly swollen whilst his left hand is suspected to have been fractured. After recovering from the initial shock, the injured priest somehow managed to inform the nearby villagers who had brought him to his parish at Garha Lodhma. Doctors attending the injured priest said his condition was stable.
Minj recalled that a week ago, some youths had attacked St Paul’s High School and had broken many of the glass panes.
“Attacks on priests are frequent, though we do not complain and carry on our service to the people,” he said.
Meanwhile reacting to the incident, Cardinal Telesphore P. Toppo, who is currently in Rome, told The Telegraph over the phone that the attack on priests reflected the poor state of affairs prevailing in the society.
“Priests go to the most remote of villages, unarmed and unescorted to serve the poor and needy. Attacks on priests need to be condemned in the strongest of terms. However, I will pray both for the injured priest as well as for the attackers so that God might show them the light of the day,” Toppo said.
Pastor arrested in Orcha, Madhya Pradesh
15th May 2007
Kunal Pasricha, a Pastor was beaten up by Hindu fundamentalists and later arrested by the police on the evening of May 14th at Narayanpur village, District Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh.
On 14th May Pastor Kunal Pasricha was visiting a village in order to show a film on the life of Jesus Christ. Before he could do that a mob of about 70 -80 people attacked him, beat him and took him to the local police station. They accused him of hurting their religious sentiments and of forcible conversions. An FIR under sections 153 of the IPC and Section 4 of the Madhya Pradesh Dharma Swatantrya Adhiniyam has been registered against the Pastor.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
DL: Christian priest attacked
However, police did not rule out the possibility that the priest was attacked for religious reasons. "We have launched investigations and the actual motive behind the crime could only be known after the arrest of the accused," a senior police official said. (IANS)
By Ravindra Saini in Dehradun
Uttarakhand Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri has assured the saints to bring the cow protection and anti-conversion Bills soon in the state. He said the cow is backbone of Indian economy and she is most revered for Hindus world over. He said cow slaughter would not be allowed at any cost in the state. Shri Khanduri was addressing a large gathering of saints in Haridwar on April15. He said the anti-conversion Bill would be brought soon to ban conversion with allurement or fraudulent means. Prominent saints who were present on the occasion included Swami Satyamitranand Giri, Swami Hansdas, Swami Chidanand Muni, Swami Paramanand Maharaj, Dr Pranav Pandya, etc. Shri Khanduri said the Bills to ban cow slaughter and conversion would be brought in the coming session of the Assembly.
Later talking to Organiser in Dehradun, the Chief Minister spoke about the changes he brought in the state to improve the economic condition and administrative set up. “Since the financial condition of the state is bad the wasteful expenditure needs to be stopped with immediate effect. I have said that any strict action to stop the wasteful expenditure should begin from me. Therefore, I have tried to cut down the unnecessary expenditure on my office. I have reduced my caravan and vehicles from 8 to 2. I have directed the bureaucrats to travel by train where the train connection is available particularly between Delhi and Dehradun and not use the helicopter or road transport which prove very costly. We have brought out a number of changes in the number of vehicles, which were unnecessary,” he said.
When asked about the welfare of the people living in remote areas of the state, Shri Khanduri said he would do everything to improve the pitiable condition of the people living in remote areas. “We will make all the resources available in these areas so that there may not be any inconvenience to those people and people don’t need to come down the places where facilities are available.
He said the efforts are being made to come out of the dept of Rs. 14000/- crore. Several steps have been taken to bring about financial discipline and austerity in the state, resulting in the saving of crores of rupees of the state exchequer during the last one-month.
Commenting on his government’s decision to put a ban on fresh appointments in the state, he said the reports on irregularities in ongoing appointments including issuing of backdated appointment letters made the government freeze all appointments that were in the pipeline. “There is no ban on fresh appointments. We want to first put a system in place where there is no scope of corruption or recommendations,” he added. He said the objective behind this whole exercise is to ensure that we should not commit the same mistakes that were made by the previous government and get caught in scams.
The focus is to put a foolproof system in place right from day one. He said the government has reiterated its resolve to check the spiraling prices of real estate in the state, much to the consternation of builders and property dealers. Shri Khanduri had hinted at it a few days before he took over as the Chief Minister. During the last two years or so, there had been phenomenal rise in real estate prices in Uttarakhand, particularly in Dehradun. The possibility of about 500 industrial units coming up near the BHEL in a few years resulted in manifold increase in the prices. The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) had all along demanded introduction of Section 371 to check the rise in real estate prices.
THE HIGH Court-appointed special police team that probed the functioning of a Christian retreat centre in Kochi has filed a preliminary report making serious charges against the centre.
After a six-month investigation, the team has registered a case against the director of the centre, Father George Panackkal, and nine other office-bearers, including nuns- They have been booked under various charges, including forceful confinement, causing hurt by poison, cheating and destroying evidence. –
The team is learnt to have found that during 1996-2006, 927 “mysterious deaths” took place at the centre, and on many occasions the bodies were disposed of without informing the police. Documents were allegedly forged to make the deaths appear natural, the FIR said, demanding a detailed probe into the deaths.
Claimed to be the largest Catholic healing centre in the world, the Divine Retreat Centre in Muringoor, near Kochi, was in the news recently after one of the believers sent an anonymous letter to the High Court. The letter reportedly carried serious charges, including of sexual harassment, forceful confinement and murder, against the centre.
The court suo motu constituted a team headed by Inspector General of Police Vincent M Paul.
“Prima facie, we found some of the charges against the centre were right. A high-level inquiry is needed. So we filed an FIR. We are proceedthg agathst them,” IGP Paul told the Hindustan Times.
In the centre, the probe team found that people were locked up in cells in the name of healing. Those showing violent behaviour were often injected with unknown drugs by untrained persons.
Besides the FIR filed at the Koratty police station, the team has also filed a report before a magistrate recommending a probe into the foreign funding of the centre.
Reacting to the police action, Father George Panackkal said, “It is a concerted bid to destroy the centre. We are yet to see the details of charges filed against us.”
Source: Hindustan Times
Kerala police finds irregularities in Christian prayer centre
Police Monday filed a formal complaint against a leading Christian faith-healing centre in Kerala on the basis of the findings of a court-directed probe into allegations of criminal activities there.
From correspondents in India, 30 Apr 2007 - (www.indiaenews.com)
Police Monday filed a formal complaint against a leading Christian faith-healing centre in Kerala on the basis of the findings of a court-directed probe into allegations of criminal activities there.
The court-appointed special investigation team filed a first information report (FIR) at the police station here indicting Fr George Pannackal, director of the Muringur Divine Retreat Centre near Trissur district, and 10 other members of the staff, including nuns, confirmed Inspector General of Police Vincent Paul.
'In order to go ahead with the investigation an FIR is required and we have filed it. The director and 10 others have been named in the FIR,' Paul told IANS.
Acting on various complaints, the Kerala High Court had in March last year asked Paul to submit a report on allegations about criminal activities going on at the centre and irregularities in foreign funds received by it.
The centre, billed as Asia's biggest of its kind, was subjected to a surprise inspection by a joint team of police and state health department officials in September.
The inspection detected irregularities in the manner in which the centre was treating a large number of patients suffering from depression and alcoholism.
Following the scrutiny, politicians in the state, cutting across the party lines, raised a hue and cry while Pannackal urged the court to stop the inspections.
Justice R. Basanth dismissed the petition and ruled that the court has the right to order inspections even if it is a place of worship or prayer.
(Staff Writer, © IANS)
Jaipur, April. 30(PTI): Five persons were arrested today by the police in connection with the assault on a pastor Walter Masih at his house in the Nandpuri area here.
In a shocking incident, a group of 20 masked youth had barged into the house of Masih yesterday and beat him up badly with lathis alleging that he was indulging in religious conversions.
The five persons were identified as Suresh(20), Vimal(27), Pratap Singh(42), Mukesh Singh(20) and Ganesh Singh(25), all slum dewellers from Bhojpura kachchi basti.
Masih said in the FIR that he had received multiple injuries after being manhandled by the assailants.
Meanwhile, nearly two dozen members of congress accompanied by some Christian community representatives met Governor Pratibha Patil and demanded a probe.
State Pradesh Congress Committee President B D Kalla termed the beating of the pastor as inhuman and demanded immediate action against the police for remaining "mute spectators".
State Home Minister G C Kataria told PTI that the government will take stern action against all those who were behind this act. "It does not matter what brigade or outfit they belong," he said.
Members of Jaipur Christian Fellowship has also organised a peace march to express solidarity with the victim.
Source: The Hindu
Special Correspondent
| Masked intruders go on rampage in house in the vicinity of Chief Minister's official residence |
JAIPUR: Masked youth attacked and seriously injured a Christian preacher and went on the rampage in his house in the neighbourhood of the official residence of the Rajasthan Chief Minister here on Sunday afternoon. Walter Massey has been admitted to the emergency ward of the Sawai Man Singh Medical College Hospital here. Authorities there termed his condition stable. No arrest has been made so far.
Mr. Massey runs a small congregation, `Masihi Sanghti,' from his middleclass residence at Nandpuri Bazar. The intruders, numbering 15-20, used sticks and whatever came in handy to attack Mr. Masseyin the presence of his wife and child.
His wife Joyce told this correspondent that initially three persons came seeking to meet her husband. When the door was opened, they engaged the preacher in a conversation and in no time started assaulting him. And more men, covering their faces, joined in the attack.
As the attackers dragged a profusely bleeding Massey out of the house, a neighbour Samuel Roberts, who was passing by, rushed to the Sodala police station, half km away.
Ms. Joyce and the child were not hurt though the intruders broke plastic chairs, utensils and furniture.
Mr. Roberts said there were around 25 men, who covered their faces and were wielding sticks, outside Mr. Massey's residence.
Assailants on video
Additional Superintendent of Police (South) Subhash Vishnoi said the police were trying to identify the persons spotted on a video on the incident telecast by some TV channels. A case has been registered.
The Congress, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind condemned the attack.
Congress general secretary Ashok Gehlot termed it a "very serious matter" and demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits.
"Vishwa Hindu Parishad workers have once again taken law into their own hands in the name of stopping religious conversions in the State and this is condemnable." CPI (M) State secretary Vasudev said, "The Chief Minister and the Home Minister should take the responsibility for the attack," which occurred in the Civil Lines locality."Hardly four days ago did workers of the BJP-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarti Parishad attempt to attack the CPI (M) State headquarters on Hatwara Road, he alleged.
Engineer Mohammed Saleem, new president of the State Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, said the attack put a question mark on the very existence of a government in the State.
VHP, Bajrang Dal goons beat Pastor in Jaipur
Event is captured by news channels
By Vijayesh Lal
29th April 2007: Jaipur, Rajasthan
Walter Massey, a Christian pastor was attacked by VHP and Bajrang Dal goons without any provocation. At about 12:30 – 1:00 pm, all of a sudden 20 – 25 VHP and Bajrang Dal people stormed inside Pastor Walter’s home and started beating him.
The attackers were carrying weapons, iron rods, sticks etc. They mercilessly beat Pastor Massey in front of his family and ransacked his home. They broke furniture and destroyed property.
While this was going on a TV camera crew happened to notice the armed brigade with weapons and followed them as they entered Pastor Massey’s home and beat him up mercilessly. This is the version of the camera crew as told to Jaipur Christian Fellowship. There are several questions however. For example how did the camera crew manage to film the attackers while they were getting ready to attack Pastor Massey? How did the camera crew manage to get the tape to so many channels at such a short period of time etc?
A shocked
All through the beating Pastor Massey was calling aloud the name of Jesus while people slapped him, beat him with sticks and with metal chairs. Pastor Walter Massey had enough courage to step out of his home and proclaim the love of Jesus Christ to the curious but unhelpful bystanders. He also later on spoke to the camera crew about the love of Jesus Christ and how as Christians we pray for our nation. After this he was carried away to the hospital.
The police initially refused to admit an FIR in this case. It was only when Jaipur Christian Fellowship and other organizations exerted pressure that they admitted the FIR. But even after most attackers can be plainly identified as shown on television for some hours at a stretch now, the police still claim that they are yet to identify the attackers and so have admitted an FIR which says that Pastor Massey had been attacked by unidentified men. The FIR does not mention the VHP or the Bajrang Dal in spite of the attackers themselves claiming on TV that they belonged to the VHP.
Right now Pastor Massey is in the hospital where he is on IV’s. He has difficulty in walking and his eye has been hurt badly. He was beaten up with iron rods so most of his injuries are internal, but he is unfazed. His family however is finding it difficult to cope with the situation. His wife Joyce saw him getting beaten up and his 6 year old daughter is terrified.
Pastor Massey has been in Rajasthan for a long time. He is an ex-worker of the India Every Home Crusade and right now runs his own house Church by the name of Masihi Sangati Kendra. He lives in Nandpuri, near Hawa Sadak, Jaipur, Rajasthan. He had been threatened for a long time by the Hindutva brigade and had even appealed to the police for protection but was given none.
We managed to get his phone number but he was not available so we spoke to the members of the Jaipur Christian Fellowship (JCF). Rev. Jagdish Chandra Sharma, the secretary of the JCF told us that they had spoken to the Home Minister, Mr. Gulab Chand Kataria and that he had assured them of firm action in the case. However on television Mr. Kataria denied any knowledge of the incident. Mr. Kataria is famous for his anti-Christian stance and played a major role in the persecution of the Thomases from
Meanwhile the mud-slinging and politicization of the incident continues. The Congress came out openly against the BJP led government and criticized them of practicing communalism to gain electoral mileage. The TV channels also blamed the BJP led government for its failure to curb the Hindutva brigade.
Please pray for the situation in Rajasthan and especially for Pastor Walter Massey. Please also send letters of concern, and faxes to the following:
| Name | Phone Number | |||||||||||||
| Smt. Vasundhara Raje, Chief Minister | (Off) 0141-2227351, 2227462 (Fax) 0141-2227687 (Res) 0141-2228712, 2228713, 2228705 | |||||||||||||
| Smt. Pratibha Patil, Governor of Rajasthan | (O) 0141-2228768 (Fax) | |||||||||||||
| Shri Umrao Salodia Prin. Secretary to Governor | (O) 2228792 (R) 2275132 | |||||||||||||
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Prime Minister of |
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A Church in Kabeernagar under Sanathnagar police station in
On 15 April 2007, some unknown anti-Christian men entered the church when the worship was going on and attacked the Pastor and the believers, including women and children. They also destroyed the sound system and other electronic items. When objected, they kicked some of the believers and tried to stifle a minor girl.
After the attack, the miscreants fled the scene without leaving any trace of their identity. Later the Pastor and the believers went to police station at Sanathnagar and filed an FIR against them.
The police are investigating the case.
The five people, including Charan, Rajeswari, Sunita and Mary from Tarnaka, visited the hospital to pray for the patients. During their visit, they also distributed Christian literature among the patients.
Some of the junior doctors who noticed them acted as relatives of the patients and listened to them. Then they informed the police who took them into custody.
Bajrang Dal activists converted a Christian church into a gurudwara in Lehragaga of Sangrur district of Punjab on April 10, 2007. Later Sikh leaders came to the rescue of the Christians.
Sources told the All India Christian Council (aicc) that Pastor Malok Singh from Lehragaga was falsely accused of rape by Bajrang Dal activists. He was arrested under 109 section of the India Penal Code (IPC) on April 10, 2007 and remained in jail until he was bailed after 9 days.
In connection with the allegation against Pastor Singh, Bajrang Dal activists numbering over 100 came and attacked the church. Aicc was told that church furniture was broken and musical instruments were stolen, A Granth Sahib (Sikh religious scripture) was placed inside the church, holy reading of Granth Sahib was conducted, and church signboard was changed into Gurudwara Sahib.
It has also been reported that Bibles were torn inside the church and large number of Christian literature was taken by two lorries to undisclosed place and reportedly burned.
A source said that Sikh leaders along with police personnel restored the church by removing the Granth Sahib placed inside the church.
Church members have filed a complaint against the Bajrang Dal activists at Lehragaga Police Station for provoking enmity among two religions of Christianity and Sikhism. The complaint against the culprits was lodged under the IPC sections 295, 452, 447, 506, 148, and 149 on April 11, 2007.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Mr. Balraj Singh reported to the aicc that the District Magistrate has set up an enquiry commission under the leadership of Sunam Sub-Divisional Magistrate to submit a report within two weeks.
No arrests of Bajrang Dal activists have been reported, while pastor Singh was arrested within short time of the complaint against him.
Pastor Singh reported to the aicc that he was severely beaten up in the police station and forced him to accept the allegation against him. He said that a girl was brought by Bajrang Dal activists to his house and then Bajrang Dal activists locked the door from the outside and accused him of rape.
According to a source, Bajrang Dal had a meeting at Lehragaga on April 18, 2007 and submitted a memorandum to the District Magistrate to sack the District Superintendent of Police for performing his assigned duty to protect the Christian minorities.
Rashtriya Swayamseva Sangh, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party activists have been telling Sikh communities the false allegation that Christians are forcefully converting Sikh communities into Christianity. Hindutva leaders have called for an anti-conversion law in the state of
Press Release by Rev. Madhu Chandra of AICC
The incident took place because of Daljit’s family’s unhappiness at her decision to covert to Christianity. The family is further agitated due to Daljit’s refusal to marry her Christian fiancé according to Sikh customs.
According to Open Doors International (ODI), Govindra was warned not to take legal action against Daljit’s family or his life would not be spared.
Pray that the hearts of Daljit’s family members will be softened and that they would respect her decision to be a Christian. Pray that Govindra’s safety and that all three (Daljit, her fiancé and Govindra) would be given strength to face this situation.
*Certain names have been changed for security reasons.
Richard Howell
General Secretary – EFI
Guwahati: The Assam Government has directed a 162 year old First Baptist Church here to hand over its premises to the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority GMDA for construction of a multi-storeyed car parking lot. The Council of Baptist Churches is North East India, CBCNEI, also has its headquarters here.
A CBCNEI delegation submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on 14 March 2007, demanding revocation of the government order issued by Revenue Secretary S Thadou.
The Baptist Church, officially known as the War Memorial Chinch, was established in 1845 by Reverend Cyrus Barker, while the CBCNEI is the largest Baptist group in South Asia with 10 lakh [One Million] members. The CBCNEI was founded in the Nineteenth Century by pioneer American Baptist Missionaries like Miles Bronson, author of the first Anglo-Assamese dictionary, and others who championed the cause of the Assamese language when the British introduced Bengali as the official language of the region. The American Baptist Mission which arrived in 1836 AD brought out the first Assamese newspaper Orunudoi [Sunrise] in 1846 AD.
Emerging from Good Friday service, Pastor Aziz-up-Haq described the order as an attack on religious minorities and said it had come at a time when the Centre was talking about minority welfare. Apart from Assamese, Christians, Hmars, Nagas, Khasis and other ethnic communities also worship regularly in either in the main church building or at the adjacent Louis Memorial Hostel auditorium.