NEW DELHI — A woman was fatally stoned and beaten with an ax by relatives, who claimed she and her family no longer were entitled to their land because they became Christians.
Sources told Morning Star News that an uncle and cousin of Bindu Sodi killed the woman on ancestral farmland belonging to her younger brother.
The uncle and son — Chetu and Kumma Sodi — had claimed and planted on two-thirds of that land, which is in Toylanka village in India’s Chhattisgarh state.
Bindu’s brother, the landowner, filed a complaint with Katekalyan police.
Stoned, struck, beat and kicked
On June 24 after Chetu rebuffed authorities trying to resolve the dispute, Bindu, her brother and two other family members planted the only portion left. As they did, Chetu and Kumma stoned, struck, beat and kicked Bindu until she died.
Police have registered a case of murder and criminal acts against Chetu and Kumma.
Declared a land dispute
Even though a human rights activist pointed out to police that the issue arose because of Bindu’s Christian faith, police insist it was a land dispute, Morning Star News reported.
India is No. 11 on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of places most difficult to be a Christian.
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