Chairs smashed in assault on church in Borsi village, Dhamtari District, Chattisgarh, India on June 8, 2025. (Morning Star Information)
NEW DELHI (Morning Star Information) – Hindu extremists in central India on June 8 ransacked a church’s worship constructing, burned Bibles and assaulted each member, inflicting one to lose consciousness, sources mentioned.
In Chhattisgarh state’s Dhamtari District, the Hindu nationalists attacked through the unbiased Penial Prayer Fellowship’s worship service in Borsi village, mentioned Pastor Wakish Sahu, who leads the church alongside together with his 57-year-old father, Mannohan Sahu.
“They forcibly entered the church, disrupted the worship service and have been carrying picket rods and shouting slogans like ‘Jai Shri Ram’ [Hail lord Rama],” Pastor Wakish Sahu instructed Morning Star Information.
Threatening the Christians, the attackers instructed them to cease gathering for worship, he mentioned. They broke all chairs, followers and musical devices, then collected all Christian literature together with the Bibles and burned them.
Taking maintain of Pastor Mannohan Sahu, they beat him with picket rods, slapped his face repeatedly, struck his head with picket sticks and kicked him, Pastor Wakish Sahu mentioned.
“My father was being crushed up, and through this time blows landed close to his ear, and he misplaced his consciousness,” he mentioned. “The assaulters, in all probability scared that he was useless or going to die from the beating, known as for a glass of water and compelled it in his mouth.”
Pastor Mannohan Sahu sustained accidents over all his physique, particularly on the pinnacle, ear, chest, arms and again.
The assailants beat all 15 members current that day, together with Pastor Wakish Sahu’s mom when she tried to intervene and save her husband; her arms and head have been injured within the course of.
“Two ladies and 5 males sustained extreme accidents and needed to be taken to the hospital for therapy,” mentioned Pastor Wakish Sahu.
Solely 5 to seven of the assailants have been from the village, the others being outsiders the pastor mentioned he “had by no means seen earlier than.”
Pastor Wakish Sahu registered an in depth criticism on the Maganlodh police station, however officers didn’t register a proper criticism as they indicated they’d examine first. At this writing, nevertheless, no formal criticism has been registered.
“Because the assault, the believers have stopped coming for worship as they’re too scared, and understandably so; however our members of the family, round 10 of us, nonetheless worship on the similar time,” Pastor Wakish Sahu mentioned. “Now we have determined that we are going to not give in to concern.”
Underneath the Hindu Radar
This was not the primary time the church has been attacked.
A mob of Hindu extremists in June 2024 attacked his church in an identical method, threatening all these current and telling them to cease attending worship providers, the pastor mentioned.
“Since then, our congregation of near 50 individuals had diminished to fifteen, and for the reason that newest assault, no person [outside his family] is coming to church for concern of being assaulted,” Pastor Wakish Sahu mentioned.
After the assault final yr, Dhamtari Christian leaders had submitted a memorandum to authorities, together with the District Collector of Dhamtari.
“Police have been patrolling each Sunday since final yr,” the pastor mentioned. “They normally come inside to examine if any individuals from close by villages are in attendance, as a result of they preserve that solely individuals from our village ought to be current in our providers. They’ve warned again and again that nobody from different villages ought to be present in our midst.”
Throughout police visits, after confirming attendance they normally take photographs earlier than leaving, he added.
Congregation members stopped coming additionally from concern of being focused by anti-Christian teams.
“Lots of them have instructed us that they may attend worship in different church buildings in close by areas or within the metropolis however are afraid of attending worship providers at our church due to concern of violence and the police,” the pastor mentioned. “Nevertheless, they don’t perceive that even metropolis church buildings haven’t been spared.”
On the morning of June 8, the patrolling police who visited the church once more requested if anybody from exterior the village was attending and left. When the following assault was underway, officers arrived and instructed the assailants to go away.
“It was very shocking that the police simply instructed them, ‘It’s sufficient,’ and so they all simply walked away,” Pastor Wakish Sahu mentioned. “It seems that it was all within the data of the police even earlier than they attacked us.”
When he and different Christian leaders went to submit a proper criticism on the police station, the Hindu extremists have been ready exterior to assault them once more. The pastor requested police safety, and officers agreed to drop them midway to their residence.
“When the police have been driving us again, the Hindu mob was following the police car,” he mentioned. “They got here after us for a mile after which took a detour.”
He later realized the Hindu mob following them had gone to a different Christian home within the space and vandalized and burned it, he mentioned.
One other congregation in Dhamtari, Elohim Church, endured an intrusion by members of the Hindu nationalist Bajrang Dal on Sunday (June 29), mentioned Pastor Alok Majumdar.
“The Hindu extremists entered the church whereas the service was occurring and disrupted it by loudly singing Hindu non secular hymns,” Pastor Majumdar instructed Morning Star Information. “Subsequently, the police arrived and dispersed the Bajrang Dal members.”
Officers took a casual criticism, however it has not but been formalized. No bodily violence or vandalism was reported.
The identical day, Hindu extremists disrupted the worship service of one other church within the district, situated in Gopal Puri about 10 miles from Pastor Majumdar’s church. Its pastor, Thanu Ram, was unavailable to substantiate the incident however it was cited by each Pastor Majumdar and Pastor Wakish Sahu.
Earlier than attacking Pastor Majumdar’s church, the identical day Hindu extremists went to Pastor Rekha Mahilanh’s church on the way in which to Majumdar’s church. Extremists discovered a 21-year-old man exterior the constructing who was attending church for the primary time and assaulted him. They then looked for the church pastor. Pastor Mahilanh stepped ahead and revealed that she was the pastor, and she or he and all different ladies of the church confronted the extremists.
“The Hindu extremists discreetly used some form of a twig on among the ladies,” Pastor Mahilanh instructed Morning Star Information.
In the long run, because of the ladies’s dedication, the extremists left and proceeded to Pastor Alok Majumdar’s church.
Pastor Mahilanh didn’t report the matter to the police.
Pastor Raju Verghese, additionally in Dhamtari District, Pastor Majumdar and the Rev. Diamond Phillius, president of the Dhamtari Christian Discussion board, submitted a memorandum to the collector’s workplace on Tuesday (July 1) highlighting the rise in assaults towards space church buildings and interesting for motion.
Pastor Verghese instructed Morning Star Information that the district collector, Avinash Mishra, was busy in a gathering, so he acquired the memorandum from them and mentioned that he would take it up with them later.
Christian help group Open Doorways ranks India 11th on its 2025 World Watch Record of nations the place Christians face probably the most extreme persecution. India stood at 31st place in 2013 however has steadily fallen within the rankings since Narendra Modi got here to energy as prime minister.
Spiritual rights advocates level to the hostile tone of the Nationwide Democratic Alliance authorities, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Social gathering, which they are saying has emboldened Hindu extremists in India since Modi took energy in Might 2014.
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