by Nirmala Carvalho

A group of Hindus torture young Christian man. Using violence, they drag him to a Hindu temple, where they “re-convert” him. Police charge five of six attackers, but without taking them into custody. Christian activist believes that “hidden interests” are behind incidents of this type.

Bhubaneswar (AsiaNews) – Even if peace is slowly returning to the District of Kandhamal, the State of Orissa continues to be the scene of anti-Christian violence. A young Christian was recently beaten, tortured and dragged into the middle of his village, where his tormentors forced him to undergo a ceremony of reconversion to Hinduism.

The incident, which occurred last Tuesday in the District of Nuapada, saw six Hindu extremists attack a 19-year-old man, Bhakta Bivar, at his home. They ransacked the house, seriously injured him but did not carry out their plan to kill him and his entire family because Bhakta’s parents, Neheru and Budhabari Bivar, were not at home.

During their rampage, the hooligans took away four Bibles. Before dragging the young man out, they also tortured him. On their way to the local Hindu temple, they beat him. Inside the building, amid kicks, slaps and insults, they “re-converted” him to Hinduism.

Local police moved in the day after. Superintendant Bibek Rath arrested five of the six assailants, Siba Prasad Jha (22), Bijoy Punji (20), Samita Patra (23), Girish Panda (23) and Jasobanta Ada (20), and charged them. Then, he let them go.

Sajan K George, national president of the Global Council of Indian Christians, told AsiaNews that the kind of violence is not random.

“There are hidden interests behind the threats and violence against the Christian community in Orissa. Just as the community was slowly learning to live a normal life again after the 2008 pogroms, we get this kind of violence.”

(Santosh Digal contributed reporting for this article)

• india
• orissa
• kandhamal
• nuapada
• attack
• christians
• hindus
• reconversion
• pogrom
• 2008