NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) A mob armed with axes and thick wooden batons in central India disrupted a home worship service and beat and threatened Christians for leaving their ancestral tribal religion this month, sources said.
Eight Christians were injured and five of them hospitalized, including two women and a pastor who suffered head injuries and a dislocated shoulder, in the March 8 assault on a house church meeting in Surguda village, Bastar District in Chhattisgarh state, said the pastor, Samson Baghel of the Methodist Church.
Methodist Church Pastor Baghel, who lives in a nearby village, and 20 other Christians from surrounding areas had come to the home of Jaggu Kashyap for the meeting with the only three Christian families who live in Surguda village. Five of the Christians attacked sustained head injuries.
“Some church members caught hold of my hand and asked me to escape, but I said I will not leave the church members to face the tribulation alone,” Pastor Baghel told Morning Star News. “After I fell on the ground when struck twice on my head and my shoulders, church members pulled me aside, and I helplessly watched Jaggu and his family being beaten till blood oozed out of their bodies.”