66-year-old pastor beaten unconscious by Hindu extremists during church service in India

Chiqui Guyjoco Sunday, June 26, 2016

A group of Hindu extremists in India thrashed a 66-year-old pastor unconscious during church service for allegedly conducting forced conversions.

Four masked men with bamboo sticks disrupted a worship service at a makeshift tent church in Naupur, Jaunpur District, Uttar Pradesh State on May 22 and beat up Pastor Lalta Ram.

Indian Hindus riot in the smoke-shrouded streets of Ahmedabad, the main city in the western Indian state of Gujarat, on March 1, 2002. | REUTERS/Arko Datta

The pastor, who was hospitalized for five days and still recovering, incurred a two-inch deep cut on his head, a broken right hand, and a six-inch cut on the left hand. His 59-year-old wife, Sushila Devi, and 15 others who rushed to the pastor while he was being thrashed, also sustained injuries.

The attack forced the closure of the church, but Ram said he's willing to receive and go to house visits for those who need prayer and counseling.

Assistant Pastor Vijay Bahadur said the church had also temporarily closed for two weeks early this year after four policemen took him and Ram to the police station also for alleged forced conversions.

"They further claimed that because of the church and the preaching, all the sorcerers in the area had lost their businesses, as the people no longer believed in them but in Jesus," Bahadur told Morning Star News.

He said the police released them after 200 Christians went to the station and testified their faith in Christ.

Christian human rights group International Christian Concern (ICC) reported in March a total of 36 incidences of Christian persecution in India since the year started.

"If you see someone Muslim or Christian, they're following a foreign faith, and they're defiling India because they're following a foreign faith," explained William Stark, an ICC member and expert in South Asia on radical Hindu ideology, as reported by Vice News.

Although 80 percent of the Indian population are Hindu, Stark said that Christianity is growing because it's appealing especially to those in the lowest caste.

"You're in a religion that for thousands of years said you're something below human, and then a faith comes that says everybody is created equal, that's a very attractive message," Stark said.

ICC blames the increased incidences and emboldened Hindu radicals on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has remained silent and ignored the attacks, and his Indian People's Party known for its Hindu nationalist ties.

"They are wolves in sheep's clothing," ICC President Jeff King told Fox News. "His silence is tacit approval."