Villagers hostile toward Christians in northern India falsely accused a pastor of an illicit relationship with a woman and, in another village, burned a church building, it was reported on 7 November.
Neighbours alerted Pastor Satpal Masih that his Pentecostal church building in Giddi village, Gurdaspur District in Punjab state, was ablaze. The pastor dismissed the notion that the church building caught fire from a Diwali festival accident as the incident was too early in the evening. The church is built on a farm and so it was unlikely that people would use fireworks near the building. Police concurred with this.
Police requested 48 hours to examine the site before any church clean-up, but the Christians have not heard back from officers. They cleaned up the charred remains, so the damaged structure could be used for worship.
