Christians complain of being targeted in towns around New Delhi

The Capital city of New Delhi has rarely witnessed communal riots of the magnitude seen in other parts of India, like Mumbai, Gujarat or Uttar Pradesh towns, except the attacks on Sikh community in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi assassination by a Sikh bodyguard. But on Friday, there was tension in towns near the Capital after allegations that some Christians had been targeted by fanatics from the majority community.

The National Capital Region, comprising satellite towns like Sahibabad and Faridabad saw incidents in which at least two persons, one of them a pastor, were reportedly attacked in two different incidents on Thursday.

While the incident in Sahibabad led to the police lodging an FIR and detaining a couple of people, the cops are yet to lodge a complaint in the Faridabad incident. There, the managing committee member of a school was allegedly assaulted with a chair after an argument over fees.

In his complaint at the Sahibabad police, Pastor Gladwin Masih of the Shalem Pentecostal Church claimed that he was returning to his residence on Thursday, around 9.30pm, with his companion, Pritam, after conducting a prayer meet at Ekta Vihar in Ghaziabad, when he was attacked by over 20 people. Masih claimed: "We were praying inside my friend Ramanand's cottage when three strangers came in and sat in front of me." After about 10 minutes, one of the men called someone up on his phone and all three of them went out of the gate.

The four men waited in front of the gate till the end of the prayers, Masih recalled. They had, meanwhile, organized a bigger group at the end of the street. "I left the place on my two-wheeler, following my wife, my kids and some more people, ahead of us in an auto-rickshaw. Five minutes after leaving the cottage, I turned back, responding to Pritam's cry for help," said Masih. Pritam was being beaten up by about 20 people. "They were on bikes and were armed with hockey sticks and cricket stumps," Masih said. Pritam, whose right hand was fractured, said the assault was so swift that he could not see any of the assailants clearly. "I was on my bicycle when I saw four or five motorbikes around me. There were about 20 people armed with hockey sticks and they pounced on me," he claimed.

According to Masih, some of the attackers then turned towards him. "I immediately took out my phone to call the police. Seeing that, some of the men ran towards me and snatched my phone," claimed Masih, adding that his friend, Ramanand who held the prayer meet at his place was also threatened by some people the next day. They asked him to stop organizing such meets. The police said they have registered a case of hurt against the accused.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, however, held protests outside the local police station on Friday. They claimed that their activists were being unduly harassed. "We condemn any such attack but we will not allow our men to be unduly harassed in the name of appeasement," said a party functionary.

In the other incident, sister Pushpa, principal of Carmel Convent School in Sector 7D of Faridabad, claimed that certain parents "owing allegiance" to a fanatical organization had illegally entered her office and assaulted I S Wadhwa, a managing committee member, with a chair. "The injuries were serious and he was admitted at a Nursing Home," said Victor Das of the school committee.

Das said the parents were initially irked that the school was not releasing the results of 53 students who were yet to pay their fees "but the assault soon took a communal turn with the attackers claiming they will turn the building into Kandhamal," claimed Madhu Chanda, regional secretary of the All India Christian Council. Kandhamal district in Orissa was targeted by extreme Hindu outfits like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Basjrang Dal to torch makeshift churches and those who had converted to Christianity in one of the worst cases of attacks on Christian minority in India in 2008.

- Asian Tribune-