KARNATAKA, INDIA (ANS) -- Eleven Indian tribal Christians, including four women, who live in the Kodagu district of Karnataka State, were dragged out from their homes and arrested on alleged charges of “forceful conversion” by Karnataka State Police on February 1, 2010.

Indian women working in the coffee fields

According to the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), the tribal Christians were dragged from their homes and taken to the local police station.

The source reported that the believers were tortured repeatedly in the police station until they accepted the false complaint filed against them by a leader of the Hindu radical group, Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS).

The news source added that the believers detained were members of Beraka Gospel Church in the village where Pastor Phelomena Raj (52) ministers. The church was established 30 years ago and has a gathering of about 250 members from all the nearby villages.

The detained believers were lodged at the Madikeri Jail on February 2, 2010 and says that GCIC is in the process of obtaining bail for the believers who are mostly tribal daily wage laborers working in the nearby coffee estates.

James Varghese is a reporter for Masihat newspaper in India, and is also a freelance journalist working for ANS.