(June 12, 2010) Even if peace is slowly returning to the District of Kandhamal, the
State of Orissa continues to be the scene of anti-Christian violence. A young Christian
was recently beaten, tortured and dragged into the middle of his village, where his
tormentors forced him to undergo a ceremony of reconversion to Hinduism. The incident,
which occurred last Tuesday, 8th of June in the District of Nuapada, saw
six Hindu extremists attack a 19-year-old man, Bhakta Bivar, at his home. They ransacked
the house, seriously injured him but did not carry out their plan to kill him and
his entire family because Bhakta’s parents were not at home. During their rampage,
the hooligans took away four Bibles. Before dragging the young man out, they also
tortured him. On their way to the local Hindu temple, they beat him. Inside the building,
amid kicks, slaps and insults, they “re-converted” him to Hinduism. Local police moved
in the day after. Superintendant Bibek Rath arrested five of the six assailants, all
in their early twenties, charged them and then, he them go. Sajan K George, national
president of the Global Council of Indian Christians said that the kind of violence
is not random. “There are hidden interests behind the threats and violence against
the Christian community in Orissa. Just as the community was slowly learning to live
a normal life again after the 2008 pogroms, we get this kind of violence.”