A Christian pastor in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district was allegedly assaulted and paraded through a village with a garland of footwear, after being accused of carrying out religious conversions earlier this month, Maktoob Media reported.
The man’s wife also alleged that he was tied to a temple and forced to consume cow dung by members of the Bajrang Dal. However, Superintendent of Police Abhinav Sonkar claimed that no such allegation had been raised, The Times of India reported.
The pastor, Bipin Bihari Naik, was allegedly ass…
A Christian pastor in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district was allegedly assaulted and paraded through a village with a garland of footwear, after being accused of carrying out religious conversions earlier this month, Maktoob Media reported.
The man’s wife also alleged that he was tied to a temple and forced to consume cow dung by members of the Bajrang Dal. However, Superintendent of Police Abhinav Sonkar claimed that no such allegation had been raised, The Times of India reported.
The pastor, Bipin Bihari Naik, was allegedly assaulted on January 4 in a village under the Pajrang police station limits. However, the attack came to light recently after a first information report was filed on the complaint of his wife, Vandana.
The complainant alleged that a mob of 15 to 20 persons with bamboo sticks attacked the man at his home around 11 am while he was praying, PTI reported. The group allegedly assaulted him, forcibly smeared vermilion on him, garlanded him with footwear and paraded him through the village. They also allegedly forced him to bow before a temple.
Vandana denied claims that her husband was involved in religious conversions. She claimed that the police arrived in the village only after two hours. She alleged that they initially tried to mislead her, claiming that there was no one in the village, Maktoob Media reported.
The wife said that she had filed a complaint on the day of the attack itself. She claimed that the police took no action for several days, due to which she had to approach the superintendent of police, The Times of India reported. The first information report was registered on January 13.
The Congress said that the attack was a blot on humanity and civilised society, and had brought shame to the country. Such attacks were a direct outcome of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “hateful and divisive politics”, it alleged.
Biju Janata Dal spokesperson said that such attacks in a peaceful state like Odisha were damaging its image and amounted to grave human rights violations, The Times of India reported.
The BJP’s state media-in-charge Sujit Das accused the Opposition of politicising the matter and said law enforcement agencies would act as per the law.