- Sept. 2, 1997, Dumka (Bihar) - RC Father Christudas assaulted, paraded
naked.
- Oct. 25, '98, Ludhiana (Punjab) - Prayer meeting disrupted by alleged
VHP activists, six hurt in lathi-charge.
- Oct. 27, '97, Hazaribagh (Bihar) - Father A.T. Thomas murdered brutally.
- Oct. 30, '97, Ojada (Guiarat): Armed men vandalise tribal Christian
households.
- November 13 (Gujarat) : Umerpada village. 24
Christians were harassed by the police inspector
G. M. Damor of Dangs Police station on November
13, 1997 on a false complaint allegedly made by a
local VHP activist Kalu Chhibadia of Ghadavi
village.
- Nov. 22, '97, Banswara (Rajasthan) - Series of attacks on parish members,
written threats to rid the district of Christians in three years by alleged
VHP activists.
- Nov. 22, '97, Maram (Manipur) - Father Jose Nedumattahil, Principal
of Don Bosco school, murdered.
- November 25 Gujarat): In Kudkas village, on
November 25 1997, evangelist Premchand was going
home on a cycle at 11 p.m. after finishing a
prayer meeting when he was beaten by the police
Patel.
- November 1997 (Gujarat): Christian convention at
Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium was disturbed in
November 1997 when during the evening session,
alleged VHP volunteers came up to the stage and
snatched the mike, while the preacher was singing
devotional songs. They shouted Hindu slogans
through the mike. Cables were cut and a Matador
van parked on the ground was damaged
- December 26 1997: Dagadpada village, GUJARAT: on
December 26 1997, a day after Christmas, adivasis
celebrating the festival were stoned and harassed
the entire night by CPI Damor and others and were
put in jail for no reason at the height of their
festival celebrations.
- December 25, 1997: Pipalwada, Vyara taluka, Surat
district, GUJARAT :one group of 2,000 people of
Hindu fundamentalists came to demolish churches
and disrupt the Christmas celebrations, arranged
in the churches there. Series of attacks on
Christian tribals allegedly by Vanvasi Kalyan Parished.
1998
Jan. 6, '98, Bangaon (Bihar) - Father Villan Topno attacked seriously
hurt.
In January 1998, Hingoli (Maharashtra) - Paul Nagendran and his team
were beaten up. Nagendran lies paralysed.
February (Haryana): A 200 year-old graveyard belonging to the
Christian community was captured illegally and a
grave desecrated and destroyed in Hansi.
Feb. 15, '98 Latur (Maharashtra) - Alleged RSS workers attack Catholic
Hospital Association of India camp.
20 February, 1998 (Tamil Nadu) - Bethany Fellowship Church
was destroyed in Erode.
February (Gujarat): Divan Tembrum village. The
heads of the village, police Patel Ramesh Avasu
and Suresh Mahru, rushed to the prayer hall while
prayers were taking place at 8 p.m. The
Christians were beaten up with police sticks. A
complaint was made to the police but no action has been taken.
March 2(Gujarat): Padra, Baroda District. A
group of people were distributing handbills
concerning an oncoming Christian meeting
scheduled to be held on Baroda polo grounds
during 4th to 7th March, 1998. VHP-Bajrang Dal,
Durga Vahini young men came out in large numbers
and started severely beating the group, which
included a few foreign tourists. One woman, who
was pregnant, was kicked with boots. Another
woman's frock was torn. They were not only
severely beaten but also forced them to chant the
names of Hindu gods. Later the police came on the
scene and took the victims to the Padra police
station and detained them there for a long time.
March 4(Gujarat): Vadodara (Baroda), Attack in
the Baroda polo ground on peaceful Christian
minority group. Jesus Mahotsav meeting was
scheduled to be conducted on the polo ground
Baroda, during 4th to 7th March, 1998 with due
permissions from the authorities. Necessary
arrangements for this meeting were made including
erection of a dais for the speakers and another
pulpit for the singing team. A group of about 300
young volunteers allegedly of the VHP-Bajrang Dal
descended on the stage and on the polo ground,
where a large audience was patiently waiting for
viewing the listening the programme.. The group
began running among the audience, blowing
whistles and bursting fire crackers, thereby
creating great commotion and panic among the
entire gathering.
They resorted to severely and mercilessly beating
the audience. On an earlier day they tried to set
the stage on fire, when it was being erected.
Some people in the audience received such severe
injuries including fractured hands and head
injuries. A Maruti 800 car (No GJ-6-AA 308)
belonging to one of the participants was burnt.
The trouble makers also destroyed musical
instruments, the loss of which is estimated to be
around Rs 2 lakh. The buses engaged for
transporting the participants in the meeting were
prevented from taking off. The stranded
participants using public transport at the bus
stands were singled out and were mercilessly beaten.
Mar 13,'98, Khanvel (Dadra & Nagar Haveli) - Pilgrims attacked
by Holi revellers.
March 25 (Bihar): Luke Putaniyil of Missionaries
of Charity murdered in Noeada, a place about 120kms. from Patna..
Apr '98, Kurnool (Andhra Pradesh) - Gipson's Central Baptist Church
threatened with demolition by VHP activists.
Apr 3, '98 Baroda (Gujarat) - Christian convention at the polo grounds
attacked by the members of the VHP and Bajrang Dal.
Apr 11, '98, Palanpur (Gujarat) - Worshippers at prayer meet attacked
on grounds of holding 'Jesus Mahotsav'.
April 11, 1998, Palanpur (Gujarat) - Angelos II the Music team of Inter
Collegiate Prayer Fellowship was not allowed to perform.
April 11, 1998 (Gujarat): Palanpur. Attack on
Christian gathering during the Passion week on
11th April, 1998:. The united meeting of
Christian communities of Palanpur at the
Municipal hall during the passion week
(Crucifixion of Jesus Christ) on 10,11 & 12th
April, 1998 : was attacked on 11 April in the
afternoon around 4 pm when some 30-35 members
allegedly of the VHP/Bajrang Dal forcibly entered
the Municipal hall from behind the climbing the
compound wall, armed with hockey sticks, cricket
bats, iron rods, etc. They destroyed the food
being prepared for about 250 guests, damaged
vessels, entered the next room where some women
and children were resting, and beat them. They
damaged a Tata bus of the mission which was
parked on the ground near the hall. The damage is estimated at Rs 35,000/-.
April 16(GUJARAT): NARODA (Ahmedabad). Church
under construction razed to the ground by the
Gram Panchayat The St Antony's Church, Prayer
hall, Community hall and Medical Centre which
were under different stages of construction, near
the Murlidhar society in Naroda (Ahmedabad
suburb) were destroyed in the presence of a large
and armed gathering. There are many religious and
other structures which are illegally constructed,
in the Naroda Gram Panchayat area and AUDA area,
and even in the Capital city of Gandhinagar, but
only the Christian buildings were targeted.
Naroda: St. Mary's School, run by the Jacobites,
was vandalized on the pretext that Sanskrit was
not taught there. Among other religious articles,
a statue of the Virgin Mary was badly damaged
May 5, '98 Koshippilly (Kerala) - 'Little Flower Church' vandalised,
crucifix desecrated 10 May, 1998, (Mumbai) - 40 strong group disrupted
the Sunday Worship in 4 churches.
May 11 (Maharashtra): Shiv Sena activists
attacked Father Octavio Nevis with iron rods in
Ambernath.
May 15, '98 - Ranchi (Bihar) Brother Modestus Tirkey. headmaster of
a Catholic School attacked.
May 18,(Gujarat): Miscreants attacked and stoned
the jeep of a Catholic priest Xavier Amalraj at
Pipalvada near Zankhvav breaking the windshield
and injuring one of the occupants of the jeep.
June 1 (Maharastra): Christians beaten and 6
houses destroyed.
June 11, '98 - Ambarnath (Maharashtra) - Alleged Shiv Sainiks assault
Father Octavio Antony Nevis with iron bars.
June 16, '98 - (Maharashtra) -Christians of Friends Missionary Prayer
Band (FMPB) were beaten by Sarpanch and houses were destroyed.
June 16 (Maharashtra): St. Savariyar Church at Srilankapada, Malad in
Mumbai was demolished by the Municipal Corporation.
June 17 (Gujarat): The principal of St Xaviers's
School, Deputy Collector with the express orders
of the Collector, Surat, and with police came to
search and confiscate records of admissions and
students who had applied. Another school, Lourdes
Convent, was also humiliated with such
orders-to-search-and-confiscate. The principal
complained that the district education officer
too was constantly harassing with threats of
derecognition and cutting off of grants. The
principal alleged that the collector's office was
involved in the attempt to implicate the two schools.
June 21, 1988 (Gujarat): Singana village in Dangs Prayer hall
burnt
June 26, 1998 (Gujarat): Prayer hall burnt at 8:30 p.m. in Lahan
Kadmad village in Dangs District.
June 29 (Gujarat): Prayer hall in Umarpada attacked but assailants
failed to set it on fire.
July 8, 1998 (Gujarat): Kapadwanj, Nadiad
district (old Kheda district) : The body of
Samuel Christian, a Methodist Christian, was
exhumed allegedly by VHP activists from the
cemetery at Kapadvanj and dumped near the
Methodist church. A group of Vaghris, an OBC
community, had encroached on the cemetery-land
while the police and the administration have been
allegedly not taking prompt action.
July 11,'98 - Bhind (Maharashtra) - two workers of FMPB were beaten.
July 12, 1998 (GUJARAT) :, Christians gathered
for Sunday worship when village Patel Baburao
Gavit allegedly rushed in brandishing a bottle
and threatened the Christians. The same day, the
church lock was broken, and the Cross removed
from the prayer hall in Dhavalidod.
July 16, 1998 (Gujarat): Zankhav village of
Mangrol taluka, Surat District: The Shantiniketan
High School, run by the Jesuit priests of the
Loyola Education Trust, was broken into and
stoned on July 16. A tractor was driven into the
premises and the playground for children was
ploughed. Damage to the tune of Rs. 15,000 was
caused. The land in question was the property of
the late Shantilal Shah who handed it over to the
Loyola Education Trust to build a school in 1984.
The Fathers have been running the school which
caters to the tribal students of neighbouring
villages and the residents of Zankhav town (out
of the 720 students enrolled, 152 are Christians
and the rest belong to other religions). The
"Gujarat Samachar" and the
"Sandesh" dailies, had been
systematically printing inflammatory and vicious
articles in Gujarati that the priests were
forcibly converting tribals to Christianity and
that only Christian children were being admitted
into the school. Two truck-loads of hooligans
from the nearby Wadi village were let loose in
Zankhvav market the next day . In the ensuing
violence, the parents of three students were
arrested. Rather than take punitive measures
against the evil-doers, the Gujarat State
Government (BJP), seems to be a tacit endorser of
the destructive activities that have been carried
out and are being carried out to create fear
among the tribals and to paralyse the good work
done by Christian groups.
July 16 (New Delhi): Hindu politicians prepare
bill harmful to Christian education. The bill
calls for all schools to conform to the concept
that India should be a Hindu nation. It calls for
the rewriting of India's history books and the
closure of non-Hindu religious schools.
July 17 (Karnataka): Bajrang Dal conducts
simultaneous raids al over Karnataka, forcing
their way into Christian schools and Convents.
Cluny convent, Bangalore; the Sacred Heart
Convent, Keshwapur, Hubli; the St. Mary's Convent
School, Christ the King Convent School, Nirmala
Convent School, St. Joseph's Convent School and
Carmel Convent School, all in Mysore; the St.
Joseph's Convent School and St. John's Convent
School in Mandya and the St. Joseph's Girl's High
School in Bellary reported such raids.
July (Karnataka): Bajrang Dal activists forced
their way into St. Mary's Convent School while
the Assembly was on and spat on the face of a nun
who protested.
July 18, 1998 (Gujarat): In Bhapkal Village in
Dangs District, a prayer hall was burnt and
Christians harassed allegedly by one Bansha Bapu
Pawar of the same village.
July 18 (Tamil Nadu): Assemblies of God's church
believers and workers beaten and materials looted
in Anaaipalayam.
July 20, 1998 (Gujarat): Rajkot: Copies of the
Holy Bible (New Testament) were burnt by alleged
VHP and Bajrang Dal activists at the I.P. Mission
School, Rajkot. The miscreants claimed that the
school authorities, in connivance with the Gideon
Society, were trying to forcibly convert the
children into Christianity because on the last
page of the New Testament, readers were expected
to sign a note stating that they had accepted
Jesus Christ as their Saviour.
July 23, 1998 (Gujarat): Borkhal Village: revenue
Thallathi (official) Kalu Mana Gaikwad allegedly
connived with local Hindu activists and late at
night attacked and injured Adivasis who were at
prayer in the prayer hall. The adivasis were
beaten up, and later false cases filed against
them.
July 23 (New Delhi): Delhi Government attempts to
close down churches because the serving of
sacramental wine violates liquor laws.
July 24 (Gujarat): In Isar, a small village 10
kms. from Zankhav, where also the Catholic
Priests are working, a group of RSS and Bajrang
Dal activists attacked the Christians and
terrorised them. They added insult to injury by
filing a case against the Christians themselves
resulting in the arrest of 14 Christians.
Dhavalidod village :
July 25 (Gujarat): Hindu activists exhumed a
buried body of a Christian in Gandhinagar.
July 27, 1998 (Gujarat): Darapada village,,
Christian believer Ulus Ramji Pawar was attacked
and killed allegedly by one Dinesh Nana Bhoye of
Darpada and other, and a false complaint lodged
against the murdered man.
August 9 (Gujarat): Church demolished by RSS people in Ahmedabad.
August 13 (Manipur): Two Catholic priests manhandled by an Army Colonel.
August 15 (U.P.): O.M. workers distributing
tracts in Robertsganj were brutally assaulted by
youth belonging to the Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena,
and VHP.
And it continues ...
August 25 (West Bengal): Bikashdas of MCI
assaulted by Trinamool MP Sudip Bandhpadhyay in
Calcutta,
August 31 (Bihar): A Catholic church demolished
in Kobatoli village in Gumla District.
September 5 (New Delhi): Bajrang Dal launches
"Quit India" campaign against Christian
missionaries.
September 22 '98 - In a most shocking incident in Jhabua in Madhya
Pradesh, four of our Religious Sisters were assaulted and gang-raped in
the early hours.
September23 '98 - A crowd led by the BJP MLA Shailendra Pradhan attacked
the parish house of Fr. Edward Sarel, about 10 kms. from Jhabua. 24 September
'98 - a Clarist Convent in Baghpat (U.P.) was attacked.
September 23 (U. P. ): Nuns in a Clarist Convent
were attacked in Bhagpat.
September 26 (UP): The subdivisional magistrate,
Mr. Yadav, along with the Police Station Officer,
Mr. R. D. Rai and Sub-inspectors Mr. Girija Singh
and Mr. Shri Ram Mishra along with seven
policemen forced their way into the Jiwan Jyoti
Christian Hospital Campus in Robertsganj. They
threatened a group of about 32 seekers and
misbehaved with the medical superintendent, Dr.
(Mrs.) Monica Benjamin.
September 26 (U.P.): Activists of Hindu Jagran
Manch, Bajrang Dal and Rana Tharu Parishad broke
into the Union Church in Amaun, two kilometers
east of Khatima, in Udham Singh Nagar District.
They put up an idol of Shiva in the church and
worshipped it for about two hours.
September 26 (New Delhi): A Statue of St. Bernard
was hacked and thrown out of the compound of
Jesus and Mary College in New Delhi.
September 30 (New Delhi): Acharya Giriraj Kishor,
the Secretary-General of the VHP, warned
Christian missionaries to leave India.
October 7 (U.P.) : Christy Jyoti Convent Public
School threatened by villagers of Baghpat and
Meerut Districts.
October 10 '98 - BJP Government's Home Minister has accused Mr. Houtsma
of "Spreading superstition in our society" and violating the
rules under Bombay Police Act by organising a Faith Healing session in
Rajkot. Police had issued a show cause notice to the Faith Healer.
October30 '98- (Ayodhya) - The BJP dominated council of Ayodhya last
week passed a resolution banning burial of the bodies within the municipal
limits of this historic town.
October 30 (Gujarat): Attack on delegates attending the National Christian Conference in
Baroda during the 9th Leadership Conference from 27th October to 1st November
1998. They used sticks, belts, chains, and fists to mercilessly beat up
the delegates as they were forced into the streets. Bibles and other personal
documents were snatched from their hands. About 40 of those beaten up sustained
injuries.
November 9 (Haryana): A Catholic convent was
broken into in Jhajjar District in Kheda Khummar
Village and two nuns, Sr. Daisy and Sr. Litsy
were assaulted and asked to leave the place.
November 11 (Gujarat) : In village Borigautha
near vaghai in Dangs district, miscreatns tried
to burn down a chapel. The miscreants also set
fire to some structures in the village and looted
the people.
November 11 (Gujarat) : In Daghunia village near
the Saputara road in Dangs district, several
Christian tribals were beaten up including a
sickly lady. Several families were taken to Unai
in forced to bathe in the hot springs as a kind
of `purification.' The woman and her husband were
again terrorised and assaulted. The elected
sarpanch sided with the miscreatns and has now
decreed that the Christians should not draw water
from the village well, and should not send thier
cattle with the animals of other villagers to the
jungles to graze. In another decree, the village
Sarpanch had said the Christians would no longer
be given work in any government or government
aided project.
Sultan Battery (Kerala) Gospel workers that includes 4 women whom belongs
to the St. Paul's Mission of India was attacked by RSS workers. They were beaten
brutaly and their bibles were destroyed.
- Continuing harassment and violence against
Christians in Dharampur, South Gujarat: -
Jamalpadam village: Adivasi Christians of the
village were beaten up allegedly by VHP
activists.
- Pipalyamal village. In complicity between
police officer Damor and local VHP activist Gamaj
Gavli, Christians have been routinely harassed
and threatened.
- Jarsol Village; The Gujarat Samachar,
against which the Christians have made several
complaints, reported, falsely, that Adivasi
Christians of the village had slaughtered and
eaten a cow. False complaints were filed by the
police officer, G. M. Damor, and many Christians
were implicated and locked up.
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