A minibus transporting a group of between ten and 15 preachers was attacked by Hindu extremists in Kathua district in India’s Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on 23 October. The preachers, men and women from Kerala in southern India, had been invited to the area by local residents and had just left a home in Juthana village following a meal when around ten people attacked their minibus.

The attackers claimed that the visiting preachers were attempting to convert Hindus to Christianity, but the authorities stated that no evidence of forced conversion had been found.

A video that circulated widely on social media shows a group of men armed with iron rods and sticks, some masked, stopping the minibus and four or five of them smashing the front windscreen and a side-view mirror.

Some attackers can be seen hitting passengers inside the vehicle, while police officers stand nearby watching. Only one officer is seen trying unsuccessfully to stop an attacker who opens the door of the bus. Screams are heard from inside as he pounces on a passenger in the front seat, punching and kicking him, while another attacker demands to see “the other men” (the group in the minibus included men and women).

The day after the attack eight police officers (including a sub-inspector) who witnessed but failed to stop the attack were suspended by Kathua’s Senior Superintendent of Police Mohita Sharma for alleged dereliction of duties.

First Incident Report filed against alleged attackers

Kathua police filed a First Incident Report (FIR) against around ten people in connection with the incident, including under sections of the Arms Act. Senior Superintendent Sharma said that one of them (reportedly a local BJP leader) had been arrested and added, “A manhunt is underway to nab the other perpetrators.”

The accused and his associates reportedly have multiple FIRs registered against them in the Jammu division for previous acts of violence. An investigation is ongoing.

Christians comprised only 0.6% of Jammu and Kashmir’s population in the 2011 census but since then the Christian population has reportedly grown significantly and some Christians, especially converts and those accused of “forcible conversions” of Hindus, have been attacked and socially boycotted.

(Asia News, International Christian Concern, The Wire)

Photo from social media