Christian Post | Samuel Smith | September 28, 2019
A massive crackdown on house churches by radical Hindu groups has led to the jailing of at least eight Christians on charges of forced conversion in the Lakhimpur Khere district of Uttar Pradeshafter, according to the persecution advocacy group International Christian Concern.
The U.S.-based nonprofit reported Tuesday that several house churches were shut down in the district as an increasing trend of hostility against Christians in Uttar Pradesh continues.
Pastor Ram Kumar told ICC that he and another pastor named Gokran were assaulted by a mob of angry Hindus during a prayer service on Sept. 15.
When police arrived, Kumar said he and the other pastor were arrested, but not the perpetrators of the attack.
“We were around 50 people worshiping in a little hut, all of a sudden a mob of 20 Hindu radicals stormed into the hut while shouting at us using filthy and abusive language dragged me and pastor Gokran out of the hut and started to beat us,” Kumar alleges.
“[A]nd later, the police arrived and took both of us to the police station and then sent us to the jail.”