New Delhi: A group of Bajrang Dal activists on February 19 allegedly vandalised a church, and assaulted and threatened the worshippers, in Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharthnagar district, claiming the church was carrying out “forced religious conversions”.
The incident took place at the Himalayan Evangelical Mission.
“A group of 50-60 men, armed with rods and sticks, came and disrupted our prayer on February 19. They hit me and my son with rods, accusing us of converting Hindus into Christians in the church,” pastor Satyen Bishwakarma told The Wire.
The pastor added that he and his family have been living in constant fear as the Siddharthnagar police have refused to register a first information report against the Bajrang Dal.
However, as on March 5, an FIR has still not been lodged by the police.
A woman, who belongs to the Dalit community and requested anonymity as she was allegedly threatened by the Bajrang Dal, told The Wire that she was beaten up by the group. She added that they even warned her not to come back to the church.
“Why haven’t the police registered an FIR against them? The police saw everything when they came [to the church] but did not intervene, they were seen supporting the group [Bajrang Dal] and asking them to leave,” she said.
Photos and videos accessed by The Wire show how the church was vandalised by the Bajrang Dal.
Bajrang Dal, which is a youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), was deemed a “militant religious organisation” by the US Central Intelligence Agency in 2018, along with the VHP.
This story was originally published in thewire.in . Read the full story here