Hindu nationalists in central India last month led a mob that assaulted Christians at
worship in a house church, including women and children, and beat the pastor unconscious, sources said.
Pastor Ramesh Barela, 42, went to the house of Naval Singh to lead the service in Kotwara village, Khandwa District, Madhya Pradesh state on Feb. 7. Four families comprising 16 members gathered for the worship service.
After the service began at about 9 p.m., more than 100 people led by Hindu extremist groups surrounded Singh’s house, he said.
“On the way to Naval’s house I crossed a village where a few supporters of the Hindu right-wing groups spotted me,” Pastor Barela told Morning Star News. “These days they have grown their network real big; they have gotten vigilant, and word travels fast because of several WhatsApp groups.”
The mob surrounded the house and broke open front and the back doors that were latched from the inside, he said. They broke in brandishing thick wooden sticks, went straight went to Pastor Barela and began assaulting him, though they were unable to raise their sticks as the roof was too low, he said.
“I repeatedly told them that physical violence was not a solution to solving any grievance they might have had, and that we must sit and talk out whatever the matter was, but they continued to beat me,” he said.
They tried to drag Pastor Barela outside the house so that they could use the wooden sticks, but congregation members caught hold of him, he said. The mob resorted to hitting him with their hands and kicking him. Those who tried to stop them were assaulted, including women and children, he said.
“They pulled women’s sarees and their blouses, thus outraging their modesty, and hit little children with their legs,” said Pastor Barela.
Singh’s two grandchildren sustained internal injuries to the chest as the assailants kicked one and manhandled the other, he said. The mob broke the chair the pastor was using and vandalized the house “as if searching for something,” he said.
“I suppose they were looking for Bibles to confiscate as proof of [forced] conversion, but they could not find a single one,” said Pasto Barela, who uses a Bible app on his phone rather than carry a printed copy.
He lost his mobile phone as he was being assaulted. Another Christian began to record the incident on his cell phone, but the Hindu extremists switched off the lights of the house.
While they beat Barela, he fell unconscious.
“They hit me from all sides, and some of them were constantly attacking me from the back, I could not see them, and suddenly I lost consciousness,” he said.
A Christian called police, who arrived and took Pastor Barela and Singh to the government hospital in Khandwa, where doctors hospitalized both of them after examining the extent of their injuries.
“When I regained consciousness, I saw that I was in the hospital,” said Barela, who remained for four days. After being discharged, he went to a private hospital where doctors admitted him for treatment for two more days.
Singh and Pastor Barela were still on medication at this writing.
Police Inaction
On Feb. 8 Piplod Police filed two separate cases, one at the complaint of Singh against three identified assailants, and the second by a member of the mob, Vijay Kumar Rathore, against three Christians including Pastor Barela.
Singh’s complaint named Kishore Banjara, Pawan and Bharat Banjara in First Information Report (FIR) No. 51 under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 for “Singing, reciting, or uttering obscene songs/words in public place,” “voluntarily causing hurt,” “criminal intimidation involving grievous hurt,” “joint liability for acts done by several persons in furtherance of a common intention,” and under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, for “Preventing, obstructing, or humiliating a member of SC/ST from entering public places” and offense committed against an SC/ST person or property knowing that such person belongs to an SC/ST.
Singh in his complaint mentioned that they were praying to Christ in their house, when the mob led by the three men named in the complaint broke open his doors and began to assault them. Singh sustained an injury on his right foot and internal injuries on his back.
He also mentioned that his daughter and daughters-in-law were manhandled. The three assailants used derogatory words pertaining to his caste and used abusive language as they assaulted everyone present and threatened to kill them if they “converted anybody,” Singh stated.
Pastor Sunil Arya, a friend of Singh, told Morning Star News that Singh was able to identify several of the assailants.
“Naval gave their names to the police, but the police only named these three in the complaint and let the others be counted under a ‘mob’ – which does not have a face, neither a name,” Pastor Arya said.
The second FIR by Rathore was registered against Singh, Dashrath Vishwakarma and Pastor Barela. Rathore alleged that they were trying to convert Hindus to Christianity – which is not illegal in India – and that they tried to coerce him into converting and beat him when he refused.
The three Christians were charged with “voluntarily causing hurt,” “criminal intimidation involving grievous hurt,” and unlawful religious conversion under the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2021.
An attorney representing Singh, Vishwakarma and Pastor Barela applied for anticipatory bail in the district Session’s Court, which was denied on Feb. 13.
Though no arrests have been made on both the sides, Pastor Arya said that “the charges against the Christians are more severe, thus the Christians have to acquire anticipatory bail as soon as possible.”
Pastor Barela, who has not returned home since the attack, is awaiting anticipatory bail from the High Court in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. He has four daughters and is also caring for the daughter of his deceased brother. Three of the five daughters are married, while two are still in junior high school.
“Please pray for me,” Pastor Barela said. “With these false charges against me, my family is paying a heavy price. My wife lacks resources to run the family and I am helpless too.”
The hostile tone of the National Democratic Alliance government, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, against non-Hindus has emboldened Hindu extremists in several parts of the country to attack Christians since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took power in May 2014, religious rights advocates say.
India ranked 12th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, up from 31st in 2013 before Modi came to power.
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