The attack by a Hindu mob in capital New Delhi has raised concerns among the beleaguered minority community
Indian Catholics pray during a Good Friday service in an East Delhi church on April 14, 2019. (Photo: Bijay Kumar Minj/UCA News)
Police in India’s national capital New Delhi took four days to file an offense against unknown attackers of a tribal Christian pastor who was manhandled and forced to chant a slogan hailing Hindu gods.
Pastor Kelom Tete was attacked by a mob in South Delhi’s Fatehpuri Berri area on Feb. 25. He was accused of being involved in religious conversion activities and forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram” (Hail Lord Ram), according to the offense registered on March 3.
The 35-year-old pastor from Jharkhand state was shaken by the incident and approached police with a written complaint on Feb. 27.
Scroll.in, an online news portal, reported that Delhi police were investigating the incident based on the pastor’s complaint.
Pastor Tete claimed that he had gone to Fatehpuri Berri to meet a friend when a mob began harassing him. “They snatched my bag that had my personal belongings and a Bible. The mob tried to tear the Bible but could not. Then they started accusing me of being involved in forcible religious conversions,” he recalled.
He alleged that the unknown men “kicked and punched me and forcefully took me in their car, saying they were taking me to a nearby police station.”
Unless the governments in power take severe action against these goons who feel they are being protected, such incidents will continue to happen more frequently
Police said the pastor was taken to Fatehpur chowk where the men tied his wrists together and started punching and kicking him on the roadside.
The pastor in his complaint said that none of the passersby came to help him while he was being kicked and slapped by the mob. In fact, his attackers tried to instigate some students who were returning from school to chant slogans hailing Hindus and their religion and beat him up.
“This went on for around 45 minutes during which I was forced to chant ‘Jai Sri Ram,’” he alleged in the complaint.
Pastor Tete reportedly managed to escape after the ropes around his wrists loosened. He called his friends who came to pick him up on a bike, according to media reports.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Harsha Vardhan said an offense had been duly registered against unknown persons for kidnapping or abducting with intent to secretly and wrongfully confine a person with threats and violence. The investigation is underway, he said.
“Unless the governments in power take severe action against these goons who feel they are being protected, such incidents will continue to happen more frequently,” A.C. Michael, convener of the United Christian Forum, told UCA News.
Michael, a former member of the Delhi Minorities Commission, said it was a matter of grave concern that such an incident occurred in the national capital, where police are directly under the control of the federal Ministry of Home Affairs.
Last year a Catholic church in New Delhi was demolished by authorities on grounds that it was an illegal structure.
The Little Flower Church of the Syro-Malabar Church in the Lado Sarai area was pulled down on July 12 following orders from the Delhi Development Authority.