The body of a pastor was found hanging from the roof of his house in late January, a week after he complained to police about opposition from Hindu extremists.
Congregation members found Gideon Periyaswamy hanging in his one-room house. It looked as if others had placed him in the noose after his death, due to the way his body hung.
Periyaswamy was converted from Hinduism 25 years ago and served as pastor in the area for more than 12 years. His close friend Pastor Reuben said the local Hindus had tried many times to stop the ministry.
Willing to die
Periyaswamy spoke of Hindu hostilities to his church services and had requested prayer. Periyaswamy once remarked: ‘If needed, if the Lord permits it, I would die as a martyr for Christ, but the ministry should not stop’.
A deputy superintendent of police said that, a week before his death, Periyaswamy had filed a complaint with police ‘on some village people troubling him’.
A congregation member noted that local hard-line Hindus harassed the pastor for the past six months. He had told the congregation: ‘We should be at peace with our neighbours – let’s not give them a reason to fight’. Last year, local Hindu extremists kicked and beat him.
Police initially refused to file a complaint about Periyaswamy’s death from congregation members. After church members and pastors from neighbouring villages blocked a road in protest, his body was transported to a hospital mortuary.
Originally the congregation had met in a shed, until Hindu nationalists demolished it. No action was taken when they complained to the police.
