Members of a house church in northern India can no longer meet for worship after a mob of about 150 Hindu extremists attacked them on July 14, sources said.
In the Nawada area of Uttarakhand state’s Dehradun District, 15 church members were immersed in worship when Pastor Rajesh Bhomi’s mother-in-law notified them that she had seen the mob a few meters away on her way to the Sunday service.
“My mother-in-law suspected that it could be a mob of RSS [Hindu extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] activists, and alerted us that they must have gathered to attack us,” Pastor Bhomi, 37, told Morning Star News.
The church was worshipping on the top floor of the house he and his wife, Deeksha Pal, own. His mother-in-law suggested they lock the main entrance gate and conduct the services quietly, without music or microphone, he said.
“We locked the gate and stayed indoors, not making any noise,” Pastor Bhomi said. “Soon we found the mob with women leading in the front banging on the gate trying to break open the lock.”
When the pastor asked what they were doing, they replied, “Open the gate, let’s talk! Let’s talk!’ he said. They replied that if there was anything to talk about, only two or three of them needed to enter.
“‘Why did you come as a mob of over 100?’ we questioned them, but they kept repeating that we must open the lock, and they would only talk to us,” he told Morning Star News. “As they banged and pushed the gate, in that struggle the lock was let loose by us, and at once the mob of around 150 rushed inside the premises like flood waters. They went all around the house vandalizing every object in their sight, and some of them were carrying lathis. They beat wherever on the body badly.”
His wife, father-in-law, brother-in-law, and two other female members of the congregation were severely injured, he said.
“They received lathi blows in the stomach, neck and hands,” Pastor Bhomi said. “As they continued beating us, some from among the mob snatched away our mobile phones, laptop and damaged the music instrument.”
The beating continued until police arrived and dispersed the mob, he said. After taking their statements, officers told them to come to the police station at 7 p.m. to receive a copy of the First Information Report.
Officers there kept them waiting for more than an hour, though they were aware that the couple's 1-year-old and 7-year-old children had not eaten all day and had been crying after witnessing the violence, he said.
Police delayed filing cases against the assailants, the pastor said.
“At first, the police said since the assailants are not known to us, cases would be registered against them as unknown,” Pastor Bhomi said. “But one of the members of our church who was formerly an RSS activist came forward to name 11 of the assailants who are quite famously known in the city as RSS leaders.”
Police in Nehru colony named assailants Devendra Dobal, Bijendra Thapa, Sudheer Thapa, Sanjeev Pal, Sudheer Pal, Dheerendra Dobal, Arman Dobal, Aryaman Dobal, Anil Hindu, Bhupesh Joshi and Bijendra in the FIR. The case was registered under laws against causing grievous hurt, rioting, wounding feelings and insulting a religion, committing mischief, making a false document or false electronic record, publishing or circulating false information through electronic means, and “acts caused by inducing person to believe he will be rendered an object of the divine displeasure under the new criminal law Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023,” the pastor said.
Though they named the suspects, officers did not include the statements church members had given of the attack, he said.
“It seemed as if the police were also under pressure since the averments we made in the actual complaint went missing,” Pastor Bhomi said. “The police had written their own version in a subtle tone so that stringent sections of law are not attracted.”
The Christians had no need of gathering evidence since the mob had recorded video and posted it on social media platforms, he said.
“The faces of the assailants are so clearly seen in the video, yet police have not taken any action against them so far,” Pastor Bhomi said. “They only tell us that the investigation is underway.”
A church member who helped register the case by identifying the assailants lost a job at a factory that he had held for 16 years, as the owner is an ardent RSS supporter, he said. Owners of neighborhood shops now refuse to sell groceries and other essentials to church members, he added.
“We are enduring immense hatred from all corners; many are writing dirty comments about the videos that went viral,” Pastor Bhomi said. “They are writing in filthy language about my wife. It has been very disturbing mentally, but I thank God that she is spiritually stronger.”
The attack was the first one of such severity that he has experienced in 20 years of ministry, he said.
“Yet I believe God choses only few for this great mission of facing persecution. I am thankful to the Lord that he has chosen me,” he said. “Through this pain and trials too, I want to serve the Lord. I want to serve the Lord until my last breath.”
He harbors no anger or hatred in his heart against those who attacked them, he said.
“They came with hatred in their hearts to attack us; tomorrow, if by God’s grace they knock on our gates again, seeking the Lord, I would gladly open the gates of my house for them,” the pastor said.
In a state of shock and panic since the attack, church members have begun participating in the church’s worship services online.
“We have been worshipping only virtually for the time being,” Pastor Bhomi said. “There is no other church for at least 20 kilometers [12 miles] in this area. The gospel is yet to be preached in many areas of this small state.”
India ranked 11th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. The country was 31st in 2013, but its position worsened after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power.
The hostile tone of the National Democratic Alliance government, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), against non-Hindus, has emboldened Hindu extremists in several parts of the country to attack Christians since Modi took power in May 2014, religious rights advocates say.
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