ULHASNAGAR, India — Seven or eight Hindu extremists wielding iron rods beat 43-year-old Pastor Hemant Vashiani March 31 at True Worship Ministry Church of Dassera Maidan in Ulhasnagar, Thane district, in the Indian state of Maharashtra, reported The Times of India.
During a prayer service at about 9 p.m., the Hindu extremists barged into the assembly. "These men walked up to the dais and slapped me," Vashiani said. "They shouted filthy abuses at the Christian faith. They smashed the tube lights and sound system and broke the keyboards. The men destroyed all the furniture in the church."
Abraham Mathai, vice chairman of the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission, said the men were Hindu extremists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh nationalist organization who falsely accused the pastor of forcible conversion. Vashiani, who suffered head injuries and a broken leg, was admitted to Shree Mahapotrai Hospital in Ulhasnagar. At press time, no arrests had been made.
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