Pentecostal pastor arrested

(October 30, 2010) A Pentecostal pastor in Karnataka was beaten up by some Hindu fanatics and later arrested on charges of forceful conversion. Five Hindu fundamentalists disrupted the worship service conducted by Pastor Shivanda Siddi, 45, at Gnanodaya Assemblies of God Church, and started beating him on October 24. The attackers then called the police, who arrested the pastor along with seven women including two girls aged 10 and 11, a statement from the Global Council of Indian Christians said. “The radicals humiliated the pastor by tearing his clothes and beating him in from of the faithful,” it said, adding that the pastor was again beaten by the attackers in front of the police. While the police have released the women, the pastor has been sent to Sirsi jail, it said. The pastor has been working among tribals in Umachagi Village of Mundgod taluk for the past five years. The arrest comes just months after two other Assemblies of God pastors were attacked with iron rods by a group of unknown people in Karnataka. Pastor Shiju Kuriakose, 35, and Pastor Jayan, 30, had just finished praying when they were assailed. So far in 2010, there have been 106 incidents of persecution in India and 37 have taken place in Karnataka, according to the Evangelical Fellowship of India’s half-yearly report on major incidents of anti-Christian violence. Last year, there were at least 152 attacks on Christians.