Hindu extremists in Maharashtra state beat and threatened to burn a pastor who went on to say that he could ‘see the love and the faithfulness of God more through this incident’, it was reported in late October.
Pastor Prashant Bhatnager, 45, is still recovering from broken hand, arm and leg bones, after six men beat and urinated on him.
Pastor Bhatnager and four other Christians from House of God Church were praying for a sick person and distributing tracts in Taloja, Raigad District when they were attacked. The extremist assailants questioned the Christians, snatched their tracts and took them to a public hall, where they held them for two hours. Another 30 Hindu extremists came, disparaging the Christians and threatening to kill them. But the assailants then released the other four Christians, after warning them not to pray for anyone again, and dragged the pastor of the 350-member church into a car.
‘The extremists started beating him as they accused him of forced conversion and then took him away in a car to an isolated place, followed by another 20 extremists on 11 motorbikes’, an area church leader said.
They beat him with an iron rod while accusing him of destroying the minds of the villagers by leading them to believe in Christ. ‘They pulled me out from the car and pushed me to the ground while they pointed a revolver at me, snatched my phone away and threatened to take my life’, he said. ‘All of them started beating me and I started to bleed from my mouth and nose.’
Covered in petrol
The extremists later sprinkled gasoline over him to burn him alive.
‘I was fearful, and I started feeling convulsive, but then and there I started praising Jesus and praying, and my attackers became angrier as they continued to beat, kick and punch me, told me to shut up, spat on my face and urinated on me’, he said. ‘How I survived such an attack is miraculous. I see the love and the faithfulness of God more through this incident.’
He fell unconscious in a pool of blood. Thinking that he was dead, the extremists put the pastor back into the car and deposited him at another isolated area. After 15 minutes, however, they gathered him up again and dropped him near his village, he said.
A passer-by found him, poured water on his face and revived him, and then helped him to call friends.
‘When we arrived at the roadside where he was taken care of, he was still bleeding profusely from his nose, mouth and ears, and he fell unconscious again on the way to the hospital’, said the passer-by.
Police registered a First Information Report against the attackers and arrested the leader of the assailants, Mumbaikar, church leaders said. They said there was no case of forceful conversion against the five Christians, as they were simply handing out pamphlets to those who wished to take them.
‘We pray for people on their request, and people come to the church by their own free will’, said Pastor Bhatnager. ‘We never force or lure anyone to believe in Christ, as they wrongly accused us.’
The Christians were not able to lead a prarthana sabha (prayer convention) scheduled for 17 October because of the attack.
