BANGALORE, India — Hindu nationalist extremists stormed two Easter services and beat at least 16 Christians, including two pastors, in Karnataka’s state capital of Bangalore and in Shimoga district. A mob of more than 150 Hindus launched an attack March 23 on a Pentecostal church in Karnataka’s Shimoga district at 9 a.m., and a group of more than a dozen assailants struck Christians at an independent church in Byapanahalli in the suburbs of Bangalore at 11:45 a.m., reported the Global Council of Indian Christians.
Accusing the Pentecostal church of forced conversions without any evidence for the charge, the attackers beat 35-year-old pastor Mandya Nagraj and five others and vandalized church property. In Byapanahalli in Bangalore, at least 12 extremists led by a Hindu priest attacked the Grace Almighty Full Gospel Church. The assailants beat Pastor P. Isaac and nine believers, including a 17-year-old girl. Following the attack, the assailants tried unsuccessfully to register a complaint against Pastor Isaac for forced conversions. But police brokered a “compromise” between the attackers and the pastor, requiring him to leave the area.
Share with others: