Christians sustained broken bones and wounds on 8 April when Hindu extremists attacked an open-air gospel event in Telangana state, India.
Police initially refused to help church members after the mob of about 100 Hindu extremists seriously injured four Christians in the attack. Area church leaders submitted a complaint citing inaction by police.
‘We are deeply disappointed that police initially refused to help the Christians who were bleeding when they approached him for help and we wrote to the National Human Rights Commission to intervene’, said the Revd Sunder Paul.
Beating women and children
Hindu extremists charged into the evangelistic meeting on the final day of the three-day event at about 9:30pm shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram [Praise Lord Ram]’. The Hindu extremists led by local leaders of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bajrang Dal attacked the Kristhu Suvartha Ujiva congregation, beating pastors, women, children and the aged while insulting their faith. ‘With knives and clubs they stormed the prayer meeting and randomly beat up the Christians, including one pregnant woman and children, and threatened to stab the Christians with their knives’, said Y. Prathap, an area pastor who was attacked. ‘Gouni Verma Reddy was the first to punch the pastors and threatened to stab us with his knife.’ The Hindu extremists clubbed Christians trying to flee, said Mr Paul. ‘Many of them were bleeding from the beating’, he said.
The assailants broke a leg of one of the organisers, a pastor identified only as Sudhakar, as they continuously beat him while he lay on the ground, church leaders said. ‘Besides a broken leg, he sustained wounds and abrasions all over his body, and he remains in a hospital’, Mr Paul said.
Others were beaten and also sustained broken bones from the attackers.
