On 4 July, Pastor Firoz Bagh was conducting a prayer service at his house in Raipur, the state capital, when 30-40 Hindus surrounded the house and started shouting anti-Christian slogans.
Police took the pastor into custody but released him after a few hours after the intervention of church leaders.
After police took Pastor Bagh to the police station, a mob even surrounded the police station and started shouting anti-Christian slogans and accusing him of forced conversions.
“My church members are very frightened and feel they are being targeted by extremists,” he said.
On 7 July, Pastor Ramesh Manikpur of Sarora Gogaon was resting at his house in the evening when a Hindu group wrote a slogan hailing Hindu gods on his boundary wall.
“They accused me of religious conversion and even slapped my son. They were around 100 and passing through our lane in a religious procession,” Pastor Manikpur told the News agency.
The working committee of the All India Catholic Union (AICU), India’s oldest Catholic organisation, has expressed its concern over growing attacks on minorities. In a press note issued on 4 July, it has called on the Indian government to put an end to such activities.
