Persecution Watch, March 27, 2015
Man lost Job for Being a Christian in Haryana
A Christian lost his job after alleged Hindu extremists submitted a complaint against him of forceful conversion in Farmana, Rohtak.
The incident took place on the morning of March 9 when the Hindu extremists’ mob surrounded the Primary Health Center and accused a Christian, Mukesh, of forceful conversion, asked him to leave the area and later submitted a complaint against him to the Medical Officer.
The mob further threatened to harm Mukesh if he shares his faith with others or if he continues to go to the church and asked him to choose between his ‘job’ or ‘Jesus’.
Subsequently, on the next day, the Medical Officer told Mukesh that he had been terminated from his job.
Mukesh had been working as a cleaner on contractual basis in the local Primary Health Centre for over seven years.
“I accepted Jesus seven years ago and I will not leave him for anything.” He told EFI News. “People who were sick and troubled approached me for prayers and I prayed for them and I will continue to do it.” He added.
Kindly pray Mukesh that he will remain firm in faith amid persecution and that God will provide a suitable job for him.
Christians Beaten up, meeting Stopped in Haryana
Hindu fundamentalists allegedly disrupted a prayer meeting, threatened and beat up Christians on March 8 in Faridabad, Haryana.
At about 9:30 a.m, when praise and worship was going on in Bethania Church, two boys entered into the house church and summoned pastor Virender Kumar to come out. However, the pastor told them that he will meet them after the meeting.
The two boys, however, urged him to go out from the church and threatened him that they will start hurling stones at the gathering. “As there were plenty of children and women in the worship meeting, I decided to go out and meet them,” Pastor Kumar told EFI NEWS.
A large mob of Hindu extremists swelled up near the church and started accusing Pastor Kumar of forcefully converting Hindu people into Christianity and manhandled him. They brought in false witness who testified that the pastor lured him to convert to Christianity.
However, the police did not file any case against the pastor after they investigated the matter but told the pastor not to conduct Sunday worship meeting in his house for the time being.
“Some anti-Christian people often threatened to harm me in the past if I continued to conduct worship meetings and even threatened to harm those who rented out rooms to us for our prayer meetings,” Pastor Kumar said.
The Christians are now joining other church services, about 25 kms far from the area, “Some church members go to the meeting regularly but some have shied away because of fear.” he said.
Kindly pray for Pastor Virendar Kumar and his ministry.
Twin attacks against the Christians in West Bengal
The twin incidents against the Christians in Rayapara, Hoogly resulted in a pastor and church members being beaten up and one family forced to move out from their rented accommodation.
The incident occurred on March 10 when an angry mob of allegedly Hindu extremists barged into the prayer meeting of Agape Action Church, dragged Pastor John and five women to the local Hindu temple.
The extremists forced the Christians to perform Hindu rituals and later beat them up when the Christians refused to comply with their demands, reported our correspondent in West Bengal.
Five days later, the angry Hindu extremists turned up again and ordered the 11 Christians to leave the area.
Out of the 11 families, one was forced to vacate their rented house and the rest are still staying in their own houses. “The one family who vacated their rented house is taking shelter in the house of the pastor.” reported our correspondent.
Christian Burial Stopped in Haryana
A mob of alleged Hindu fundamentalists on March 6 disrupted the funeral ceremony of a Christian, prohibited the burial of the deceased and chased the Christians away from the cemetery in Paali, near Faridabad, Haryana.
About 80 Christians gathered at the Paali Christian cemetary when a group of Hindu fundamentalists in 12 bikes arrived at the site and maintained that “the land soil cannot be used to bury a Christian.”
Thereafter, the mob swelled up to 700 and started beating up the Christians with sticks, chased them from the spot and further damaged some vehicles of the Christians including the ambulance where the body of the deceased was laid.
“The deceased was an old lady who was a faithful member of the church and we felt extremely sad that such thing happened to us” Pastor Mahipal who conducted the funeral told EFI News.
The police reached the spot and escorted Pastor Mahipal and three church members to another cemetery to bury the body. The Christians, under police protection, completed the burial ceremony.
Pastors Arrested in Madhya Pradesh
On March 4 in Haldad, Barwani, police arrested a pastor and one believer after the Hindu extremists accused them of forceful conversion.
According to our correspondent in Madhya Pradesh, the extremists allegedly from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal stormed into the cottage meeting conducted by Pastor Lal Singh in the house of Indram Chauhan.
The extremists manhandled the Christians, accused them of fraudulently converting poor tribal people into Christianity and took them to the Rajpur police station.
However, after investigation, the police released the duo without filing any charges against them as the charge of conversion was found to be false reported The Indian Express.
Pastor Accused of Allurement in Madhya Pradesh
On March 1 in Rampura, Alirajur, Hindu extremists shouting anti- Christian slogans tried to break into the Sunday worship service and accused a pastor of luring people to convert to Christianity by offering them monetary benefit.
Our correspondent reported that about 300 people were worshipping in Filadelphia’s Church when about a dozen extremists shouting anti- Christian slogans entered the church premises.
As the extremists shouted against the Christians and hovered around the church premises, some church members called up the police who later reached the spot.
The police advised the believers to go back to the church and the Christians thereafter continued the worship.
In the meantime, the police received a complaint from the extremists where three people have alleged that assistant Pastor Pratab Rawat gave them money to convert to Christianity.
However, the church leaders told EFI News, “There is no case of allurement, we have never seen these three people before.” Kindly pray for the pastors and members of Filadelphia’s Church.
Issued By:
Rev. Dr. Richard Howell,
General Secretary
Evangelical Fellowship of India
New Delhi, India