India
is No.
37 on the World Watch List
of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to live as a
Christian.
 |
Offloading fish in Kamataka by Rudolph A Furtado
(www.wikimedia.org)
|
Karnataka, Kannur, Oct 11 (Open Doors News) — Hindu extremists beat a pastor unconscious by the side of the road, then attacked him in his hospital bed the next day.
Pastor
John Samuel Kim, from the Jerusalem prayer house in Kannur village, a
few kilometers away from Kolar District, told Open Doors News he
was standing on the road with three friends, Oct. 11, after
distributing wedding cards of his sister.
“A
mob of 20 extremists questioned me on what I was doing in the
village,” he said. “They pushed me, saying ‘Why [do] I always
visit the village and tell people about Christ,’ accused me of
forceful conversion and began to beat me with sticks and stones,
kicked and punched me.”
The
pastor fell unconscious when they kicked him in the groin. The
attackers left and Kim’s friends summoned police. Kim was
hospitalized with a broken rib, and injuries to his head and neck.
Early
the next morning, four people entered Kim’s hospital ward.
“They
told me that I should die, shook my bed and started to beat me again,
and strangled me on my neck and brought a sharp weapon to cut my
neck,” he said. Kim suffered a severe neck injury.
The
attackers left when they heard the sound of people coming. Later, Kim
provided a description of the attackers to police, who posted guard
on the ward for the next seven days as the pastor recovered.
The
police have registered a case against the attackers, but no arrests
have been made.
Kolar
District Police Superintendent Ram Niwas Seeat told Open Doors News
that he and his team will continue to protect the pastor whenever
necessary, and that they continue to search for the attackers.
The
Global Council of Indian Christians, an advocacy group, said the Oct.
11 attack was the second on Kim within the past year. Three months
earlier in Bangarapet, he was attacked in a similar way.
“I
was crossing the flyover on my motorbike when they stopped me. They
accused me of forceful conversion and beat me up,” Kim told Open
Doors News.
The
pastor did not file a police complaint after the first attack. “I
have forgiven them and I thought that they will not disturb me
again,” he said.
Attacks
against pastors and Christian institutions have accelerated in the
southern Indian state of Karnataka, where violence against Christians
has been most frequent during the past nine months.
Read
the Persecution News at
Copyright
2012 Open Doors News
Open Doors
News is distributed to raise awareness of Christians worldwide who
are persecuted for their faith. Articles may be reprinted by active
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The
violence of man's inhumanity to man is horrific. “The wicked are
brought down by their own wickedness,” says Proverbs (NKJV Prov
11:5 ). “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18
NKJV) commands God. When will INDIA stop this vicious abuse among its
peoples?
Pray
for the people of India.
–
Bill Hunt
World
in Christ
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