INDIA: PRAYER TEAM BEATEN MERCILESSLY - THEN ARRESTED

INDIA: PRAYER TEAM BEATEN MERCILESSLY - THEN ARRESTED
The Christian community of Chhattisgarh state is rattled after a
gruesome mob attack and torture. Hindu nationalists broke open the
door of a house where a three-day prayer meeting was taking place and
attacked participants as they slept – ultimately forcing two
Christians to beat one of their own prayer partners unconscious under
threat of death. The mob beat the participants, including women, and
dragged three of them from the house. It was thought they were taken
to the police station, but instead they were taken to a secluded place
where the beatings continued.
Meanwhile in a separate incident a paramilitary soldier assigned to
protect Christians from Hindu violence in Orissa was mutilated and
killed by a mob in Sisapanga village. The body of the Central Reserve
Police Force (CRPF) soldier was recovered from a nearby forest. He was
believed to have been hacked to death by tribal people. “The soldier
had been to Sisapanga village, accompanied by a driver, to buy
provisions. A group of six or seven men attacked him from behind,
dragged him into the jungle and hacked him to death,” police said. The
driver fortunately managed to escape.
The death marked the first time that central security personnel have
been targeted in Orissa. “The murder of the soldier comes in the wake
of persistent demands from the tribals to withdraw the paramilitary
force,” a police spokesman said.