HYDERABAD, India — A week after a pastor fell into a coma following harassment by hardline Hindus in southern India, a gang of Hindu extremists in the same state beat another pastor after he prayed for healing at the home of an elderly church member, family members said.
Gandham Padma Rao, 49, reported that 10 young men who were members of a Hindu nationalist group assaulted him Jan. 27 as he walked to his car, punching and kicking him and pushing him into a pit. The attack led to blood pressure so high that doctors said he could have soon suffered a hemorrhage. However, police altered his statement to indicate the young men were simply drunken youths, Rao’s son said.
Six days before the assault on Rao, 47-year-old K.A. Swamy fell into a coma from suffering a brain hemorrhage after Hindu extremists threatened him with highly offensive language and took him to police for distributing Bibles. (MS)
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