http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/bantherss/
CHURCH DEMOLISHED AND A YOUNG MAN MURRED BY HINDU RSS IN CHHATTISGARH
http://compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&lang=en&length=short&idelement=5125&backpage=summaries
Local Christians say Hindu terrorists are responsible, but police deny claim.
NEW DELHI, November 27 (Compass Direct News) – A mob allegedly led by a Hindu extremist group demolished a house church and beat the pastor and believers on November 19 in Chhattisgarh state’s Bastar district. The following day, a young relative of the pastor allegedly kidnapped by the extremists was found dead in a nearby jungle.
The attack on a house church belonging to the Christ Missionary Movement took place at about 5 p.m. in Mandwa village near Jadgalpur area of Bastar. The body of 21-year-old Aayatu Kashyap, a Christian and distant relative of the church’s pastor, Suduru Kashyap, was found about 15 kilometers (nine miles) from the village.
The superintendent of police of Bastar district, G.P. Singh, confirmed the incidents but denied the claim of local Christians that Hindu extremists were behind the attack and killing.
According to the All India Christian Council (AICC), the attack was led by the Bajrang Dal, youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad or World Hindu Council, whose members came in a jeep to attack the church and Pastor Kashyap, warning him not to conduct worship services again.
The extremists vandalized the church till it came to rubble, said an AICC statement, adding that they tied up Pastor Kashyap and his associates and severely beat them. Area Christians reportedly said the extremists tried to kill the pastor by throwing a heavy stone on his head.
A local Christian, on condition of anonymity, said the mob identified 21-year-old Aayatu Kashyap as Pastor Kashyap’s relative, and therefore they killed him.
Area Christians said the extremists abducted the young man the day of the attack, murdered him, and left his body in the jungle on the outskirts of the village. They said a police report showed the death occurred that night, November 19, between 7 and 8 o’clock, and that knife wounds were evident on the body.
The AICC quoted Arun Pannalal, general secretary of the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum, as saying that when Pastor Kashyap and his associates went to the Kodenar police station to lodge a complaint, they were detained for 24 hours without food and water and later released without their complaint being registered.
The police reportedly registered the complaint after the AICC issued the statement on November 22.
Police Version
Superintendent Singh said the killing of Pastor Kashyap’s relative was a “separate incident.”
“The body was found around 15 kilometers from Mandwa village, and the deceased was drunk,” he said.
Asked about the injuries found on his body, Singh said the young man was apparently killed from a heavy stone crushing his head.
He said police had registered a separate complaint against unidentified persons for the killing under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, which concerns murder.
The police superintendent also told Compass that those who attacked Pastor Kashyap and members of his church were local villagers who had been objecting to the pastor constructing a church hall inside his house.
Police said the 21 people arrested were local residents who did not belong to any Hindu extremist groups.
“The villagers were also angry with the pastor because he used to criticize other gods,” Singh said. The superintendent claimed the pastor received only “minor” injuries.
“There is another pastor in the area, but he was not attacked,” Singh said. “Why was only Kashyap’s church targeted?”
There are around 40 converted families in Mandwa village, he said, adding that some of them attend Pastor Kashyap’s church while others go to the church of the other pastor.
Chhattisgarh is ruled by Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, political wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the most influential Hindu extremist group and parent organization of a plethora of militant organizations in India.
The north-central state is one of the most insecure states for the Christian minority community. Chhattisgarh has a population of more than 20.8 million, out of which only 401,035 are Christian.
Anti Christian violence peaks in India, fresh attack in Haryana
A group of RSS extremists attack and threaten two young Baptists in Bhiwani accusing them of forced conversions. John Dayal President of the All India Catholic Union warns: Hindu fundamentalists have orchestrated an out and out campaign against minorities with precise ideological and political ends. There has been an average of 4 cases a week since summer.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) – Beaten and threatened by a group of Hindu fundamentalists, two young Christians saw their books and religious set alight. According to their aggressors they were trying to convert the local population. A refrain long used to justify all kinds of violence carried out on India’s Christian minority. The event took place on November 14th in Naya Bazar, Bhiwani, Haryana State. Catholics human rights activists warn that the situation is worsening: between the summer and autumn of 2007 there has been a sharp rise in cases of abuse against Christians in particular in States governed by the fundamentalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Bhiwani ’“incident” is the latest in a long list. The two young Baptist Christians were in a shop where they were showing their books to the owner, a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh [Rss, Hindu fundamentalist paramilitary group ed]. The shopkeeper immediately mobilised he group and told other activists that the boys were distributing Christian’s books with an aim to convert.
The youths were thrashed and taken in procession through city roads to the local Baptist Church where later their religious literature was burnt and the community threatened. The Civil police registered a case in connection with this episode against eight RSS members who were later arrested.
Speaking to AsiaNews John Dayal president of the All India Catholic Union, warns that Harayana is not the only state witnessing an increase in these kind of attacks. “The summer and autumn of 2007 have seen another peaking of violence against Christians. I am being informed of three to four terrible cases every week from across the country. Many of these cases are taking place in states ruled by the BJP and its allies, (Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Punjab), but others are also taking place in Congress ruled states such as such as Himachal and Haryana”. According to Dayal, it is an out and out campaign of violence which the fundamentalists with the support of their political leaders have orchestrated with precise intent: firstly to pressurise and coerce the minorities, specially the Christians, at a time when they are seeking redress in the supreme court of India for human rights; the second has to be seen in the context of the announcements by various governments that they want to bring forward laws to prevent conversions, obviously to Christianity. The skirmishes and violence will help them prove that Christian activity leads to social tensions. And finally to politically consolidate the xenophobic amongst the population on a Hindutva platform.
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&...0814&size=A
11/16/2007 10:56
INDIA
Anti Christian violence peaks in India, fresh attack in Haryana
by Nirmala Carvalho
A group of RSS extremists attack and threaten two young Baptists in Bhiwani accusing them of forced conversions. John Dayal President of the All India Catholic Union warns: Hindu fundamentalists have orchestrated an out and out campaign against minorities with precise ideological and political ends. There has been an average of 4 cases a week since summer.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) – Beaten and threatened by a group of Hindu fundamentalists, two young Christians saw their books and religious set alight. According to their aggressors they were trying to convert the local population. A refrain long used to justify all kinds of violence carried out on India’s Christian minority. The event took place on November 14th in Naya Bazar, Bhiwani, Haryana State. Catholics human rights activists warn that the situation is worsening: between the summer and autumn of 2007 there has been a sharp rise in cases of abuse against Christians in particular in States governed by the fundamentalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Bhiwani ’“incident” is the latest in a long list. The two young Baptist Christians were in a shop where they were showing their books to the owner, a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh [Rss, Hindu fundamentalist paramilitary group ed]. The shopkeeper immediately mobilised he group and told other activists that the boys were distributing Christian’s books with an aim to convert.
The youths were thrashed and taken in procession through city roads to the local Baptist Church where later their religious literature was burnt and the community threatened. The Civil police registered a case in connection with this episode against eight RSS members who were later arrested.
Speaking to AsiaNews John Dayal president of the All India Catholic Union, warns that Harayana is not the only state witnessing an increase in these kind of attacks. “The summer and autumn of 2007 have seen another peaking of violence against Christians. I am being informed of three to four terrible cases every week from across the country. Many of these cases are taking place in states ruled by the BJP and its allies, (Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Punjab), but others are also taking place in Congress ruled states such as such as Himachal and Haryana”. According to Dayal, it is an out and out campaign of violence which the fundamentalists with the support of their political leaders have orchestrated with precise intent: firstly to pressurise and coerce the minorities, specially the Christians, at a time when they are seeking redress in the supreme court of India for human rights; the second has to be seen in the context of the announcements by various governments that they want to bring forward laws to prevent conversions, obviously to Christianity. The skirmishes and violence will help them prove that Christian activity leads to social tensions. And finally to politically consolidate the xenophobic amongst the population on a Hindutva platform.
No comments:
Post a Comment