Protestant ministers arrested after Hindu fundamentalists disrupt assembly in Karnataka
(Aug.08.2010) Two Protestant ministers spent India’s independence day,15th
August in prison, after a clash with fundamentalists in the southern Karnataka state.
The Global Council of Indian Christians said that the two ministers of the “Campus
Crusade for Christ” and 10 others were detained by the police in the Mandya district.
They had been conducting a prayer service on August 15, the national holiday, when
their meeting was disrupted by a group of about 30 Hindu militants. Rather than arresting
the Hindus, who disrupted the religious assembly, a local official brought charges
against the Protestant leaders for alleged violations of the law that restricts religious
conversions. Police soon released the 10 Christian laymen, but kept the ministers
in custody. The Karnataka state is under the political leadership of the Hindu-nationalist
BJP party, and members of the Christian minority have frequently complained that officials
make no effort to restrain Hindu zealots from violence. There have been over 200 attacks
on Christians recorded in the state since the BJP took power in May 2008.