Leela Bai and others protesting outside Thikri police station in Madhya Pradesh, in early January 2021. Source: Morning Star News
By Muslim Mirror Staff
New Delhi: Leela Bai, an eight months pregnant, suffered a miscarriage after she was attacked by Hindutva terrorists in Dewada village of Madhya Pradesh’s Barwani District. She suffered the irreversible damage after a group of Hindu extremists assaulted her and other tribal Christians preparing to celebrate the New Year, reported Morning Star News.
The mob pushed her down and kicked her stomach until she fell unconscious, and later that evening she miscarried on the way to a hospital – which declined to give her any care, she said.
“I fell down and landed on my stomach,” she said. “I got dizzy, and immediately someone from the mob came and started kicking my stomach.”
She said she did not know how long they kicked her after she became unconscious. The assailants beat all the men, women and children, eight Christians in all, Vaskale said.
Accusing the tribal Christians of converting people, the 30 Hindu extremists were carrying wooden batons and stones as they attacked the Christians in Dewada village, Barwani District, sources said.
Dividing themselves into groups, the Hindu extremists took Vaskale to one side and began to beat him while another group approached the women and girls, seized their mobile phones and began sexually harassing them, survivors said. Another group entered Vaskale’s house and began to open and search the luggage of the Christian guests, including girls ages 15 and 17. They also thoroughly searched his house.
Vaskale and a visiting pastor had organized a church service of thanksgiving and prayer and had obtained permission for a gathering of more than 100 people. The New Year’s Eve service planned from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. was open to all, and celebration meal was planned for the afternoon of Jan. 1.
The tribal Christians said they suspect the assailants were members of the Hindu extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological mother of the ruling party in the state, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Christian leaders from Barwani, Indore and surrounding districts decided to lead a peaceful protest outside the police station demanding that their complaint be registered.
Members of tribal rights groups joined the protests at Thikri police station, as did Bai, who sat outside the station from noon of Jan. 6 till the evening of Jan. 7.
Media reports quoted Raju Patel, member of the tribal rights group JAYS, as saying that police pressured the victims to sign an agreement with the assailants or withdraw their complaint.