Seven people were arrested after an angry mob stormed a Pentecostal church March 6 in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. “The men soon fled away after learning the arrival of police at the place”, Arjun Pannalal, president of Chhattisgarh’s Christian Forum told reporters on Sunday.
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According to reports, five people have been injured in the incident. “They ripped off women’s clothes and threw a 2-year-old boy on ground”, he added.
They allegedly damaged chairs, fans and other articles in the premises and even beat up the people present, he said.
“Around 15-20 men with saffron bands on their forehead entered the church while Sunday prayer was under way at around 12 p.m, and started vandalising the premises and started breaking everything”, said Pannalal, claiming that the “Bajrang Dal youth indulged in sloganeering and were raising Jai Shree Ram slogans”.
“No one will be spared and stern legal action will be taken against all those people who are involved in the incident”, the state’s Chief Minister Raman Singh said Monday. Chandrakar also stated that they have registered the FIR on the basis of the statements made by the complainant.
He asserted that it was a matter of shame for the government that minorities were being constantly attacked. They ordered the believers to convert to Hinduism. “We don’t know anything, we were not at home”, said a woman in neighbourhood.
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Police have detained the attackers, but this is not the first time that Christian devotees have been attacked by right-wing groups.
