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A
pastor and his wife were attacked by Hindu radicals on
Friday at one of the villages in Chitradurga district
within South Indian state of Karnataka, Global Council
of Indian Christians (GCIC) reported.
Chitradurga : On 10 July 2009 at 9:30 a.m. a group lead
by H R Kallesh assaulted Sharada, a pastor’s wife, in
Srirampura village, Hosadurga Taluk, Chitradurga
district.
According to GCIC, the radical group led by H.R Kallesh
attacked Pastor Nagaraj, 41 and his wife Sharada at
Srirampura village, Hosadurga Taluk in Chitradurga
district, on allegation that the couple was forcibly
converted to Christianity.
GCIC said Pastor Nagaraj of ‘Yesu Prarthana Alaya’ has
been serving the Lord in Sriampura village for the past
few years. He often visits the surrounding villages
sharing the love of Christ. Pastor Nagaraj and his wife
Sharada have a small tea stall near their house which is
looked after by Sharada.
Bangalore-based Christian advocacy group said, on 10
July 2009 Pastor Nagaraj had gone out and Sharada was
working in the tea stall. At around 9:30 a.m. H R
Kallesh and some others came to the stall and questioned
Sharada about her faith. The radicals asked her how much
money she got for converting to Christianity and abused
verbally in vulgar language. They assaulted her accusing
her of indulging in forceful conversion and threatened
to burn her alive by locking her inside the house.
The Hindu radicals then proceeded to the Srirampura
village police station and lodged a complaint against
Sharada alleging forceful conversion.
Meanwhile Pastor Nagaraj heard about the incident and
was asked to come to the police station. When Pastor
Nagaraj and Sharada appeared before the police, the
Hindu radicals beat up the pastor in front of the
police. He sustained minor injuries on his face.
Later Pastor Nagaraj and Sharada went to the police
station to lodge a complaint against the radicals but
the police made them wait for a very long time not
accepting the complaint. After the intervention of the
Superintendent of Police, Chitradurga, the police
officials accepted the complaint and released the pastor
and his wife and provided them with police protection.
According to GCIC, after Orissa state, Karnataka is the
state that recorded the most number of attacks against
Christians last year.
Dr. Sajan K. George, national president of the
Karnataka-based GCIC told "Karnataka ruled by the Hindu
nationalist party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recorded
at least 112 anti-Christian attacks across 29 districts
in 2008.”
The pastor and his wife have been attacked by Hindu
radicals before in 2003 and 2008. Pastor Nagaraj and
Sharada have two sons. “Please pray for their ministry
and for protection,” GCIC said.
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