NEW DELHI, India — A Christian man was tortured, strangled and hanged July 8, possibly the result of a spat dating back two years, Morning Star News reported.
Parents of Nilesh Kumar, 22, reportedly found his body hanging in an animal shed near their home in Satpura village in India’s Bihar state.
His father, Sushil Kumar, who is a pastor, said a medical examination showed Nilesh’s arms were broken, and then he was strangled to death. Afterward, Nilesh was hanged to look like suicide.
Parents hospitalized
Nilesh’s parents were so distraught after finding his body and learning of the torture he endured that they had to be hospitalized, another pastor said.
Police arrested and charged the suspect and accomplices. Kumar’s father said the slaying arose from an incident two years ago in which Nilesh, “a low-caste Christian,” told the suspect, “a higher-caste Hindu,” not to walk across the family’s freshly fertilized yard. The suspect then condemned him for being of a lower caste and accepting Christ.
At one point after the incident two years ago, the suspect was jailed for repeated threats to kill Nilesh but was released after a month, the father told Morning Star.
India is No. 11 on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of places most difficult to be a Christian.
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