The members belonging to Christian trial members were allegedly assaulted, harassed, and barred from holding prayers after an alleged Hindutva mob barged into the church in Kapena Village of Odisha’s Nabarangpur district on Sunday.
As reported by The Times of India, the mob used loudspeakers to launch threats and warned Christians that the church would be razed down and the 30 tribal families who had converted would be expelled from the village on continuation of their religious practices.
According to local resident Tuna Santa, when devotees questioned the directive to stop praying, the accused allegedly locked the church from the outside and compelled those present to leave.
Following the incident, a complaint was lodged at the Umerkote police station. However, the police, giving the reason that the tension had existed between two groups in the village, in the deployment of security personnel, did not act on it, Siasat.com reported.
Following the incident, a peace committee with representatives from both communities was constituted, and a meeting was convened under the supervision of Nabarangpur Sub-Collector Prakash Kumar Mishra. The parties agreed to uphold peace and avoid any actions that could escalate tensions.
“As per the peace committee’s decision, 15 days’ time has been given to relocate the prayer hall and to both groups to resolve the issue and live in harmony as they did earlier,” the collector said.
This comes after an incident where a Christian pastor was assaulted, paraded with a garland of shoes, and forced to eat cow dung on allegations of religious conversion in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district.
The pastor, identified as Bipin Bihari Naik, and other people were in a prayer meeting when it was punctuated by a mob of 15-20 people, and they allegedly asked Naik to come outside the house. The order was refused by him in the context of his prayer meeting.
The incident, which took place two weeks ago under the jurisdiction of the Parjang police station, surfaced only after sustained insistence by the victim’s wife compelled the police to register a case.
The details of the incident reveal that Naik was dragged and severely beaten on every part of his body, and repeated blows were thrown at him with sindhoor smeared all over his face. The mob made him wear a garland of slippers.
