MADHYA PRADESH, India — Seven people associated with a Hindu extremist group attacked the March 23 evening service of a house church in Bherugarh village, Jhabua district, Madhya Pradesh state. With stones and sticks, they beat the owner of the house, Bhurji Dindore of Shalom Mission, and his wife, who sustained severe injuries in her lower abdomen with internal blood clotting. The group looted the house and destroyed its roof. "Money, Bibles and Christian literature from the house were missing after the attack," Jogu Dindore, pastor of Shalom Church, said. The next day, only the intervention of villagers kept the approaching Hindu extremists from attacking again. Dindore, his wounded wife and the pastor of the house church went to police at Khawasa to file a complaint, where officers told them that the assailants had already filed a report against Dindore. "One of the attackers had hurt himself while damaging Bhurji’s roof," Pastor Dindore said, "and he filed a false case against us alleging that we attempted to murder him with an ax."
Rather than taking action against the attackers, police arrested the pastor and Dindore on March 27, promising them a release on bail in exchange for the equivalent of 150 U.S. dollars. Instead they were forwarded to the Jhabua Prison. They managed to secure bail after paying the equivalent of 30 U.S. dollars to a local lawyer. "Our homes have been destroyed," Pastor Dindore said while on a train home. "We do not know what condition our families are in, and our attackers still roam free."
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