Christians under attack in India’s Karnataka state

(December 13, 2010) Hindu extremists attacked a group of Christians on Friday in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. Sajan George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), told Ucanews on Sunday that 10 activists from the militant Hindu group Bajrang Dal beat up eight Christians who were praying in a house in Coorg in the state’s southwest. The Christians, who were daily wage earners at a coffee estate, were then dragged to the nearest police station, George said. Two of them were bleeding heavily and had to be hospitalized. The victims are reportedly members of a local Pentecostal church. The GCIC leader blamed the attack on some local coffee estate owners, who allegedly support Hindu radical groups. These estate owners refuse to pay their workers the minimum wage and often do not pay them on time. The police have not taken any action against the attackers so far, George said. Police often say they cannot act against Hindu extremists and instead ask Christians not to pray in their homes. In a similar incident on Dec. 5, Bajrang Dal activists attacked four Christians in Shimoga district. Three days earlier on Dec. 2, some 20 alleged Hindu extremist threatened to rape a Christian woman near Bangalore, the state capital, if she did not return to her original Hindu religion.