AKKIALLUR, India — Two pastors in the town of Akkiallur in Haveri district in India’s Karnataka state were arrested Sept. 3 after a mob of about 150 people allegedly led by extremists of the Hindu extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh stormed a house-church meeting.
The pastors, Santosh George and Madhu Mohan, both worked with Marthoma Mission, an arm of the Marthoma Church. The mob demanded that the pastors bring out all their literature — including Bibles — which it confiscated as “evidence” that the pastors were forcibly converting Hindus in surrounding villages. The mob also forced the pastors and three underage children in the church to kneel down and took a photo of them, which later appeared in a local daily newspaper, the Vijaya Karnataka.
A police inspector and a large crowd of Hindu extremists disrupted a prayer meeting Aug. 15 in Ambedkar Beedhi, Malur town in Kolar district.
“Inspector Shiva Kumar of the Malur police station stormed the house of David Narayanaswamy, where the prayer meeting was going on, along with extremists,” Sajan K. George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians, reported. “They dragged guest speaker Rev. Peter Muniappa, Narayanaswamy and a few others outside and punched them in the face.”
The officers and Hindu extremists then took the Christians to the police station, where they severely beat Muniappa.
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