NEW DELHI — A Hindutva mob beat up two Christian pastors and disrupted a prayer meeting in Biler village earlier this week in Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh, it was reported on Friday, November 5.
The incident took place on the afternoon of November 2. The mob were led by Rajnikanth Devaghan and Nilambari Sahu, reports said, adding that the attackers also set fire to copies of the Bible and warned the pastors to not hold prayer in the village.
The two pastors Sasharath Maanikpuri and Kesar Manikpuri were reportedly dragged out from a house where the prayer meeting was going on. The mob abused and thrashed them.
The Hindutva mob is said to have asked the pastors to convert to Hinduism and threatened them of fatal consequences in case they continue prayer services.
The Hindutva activists told the Christians to turn back to Hinduism and threatened that if they continued to hold worship services, they would be killed.
“In Chhattisgarh, a recent spike in persecution can be attributed to a series of public rallies put on by radical Hindu nationalists where hate speeches against Christians are common. In one speech, a nationalist leader even called for the beheading of Christian evangelists in Chhattisgarh,” the Christian group, International Christian Concern, said in response to the statement.
This story first appeared on clarionindia.net