Bastar: A church in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district was vandalised on Monday during a protest by a group of tribals. A senior policeman, Narayanpur Superintendent of Police Sadanand Kumar, was injured amid the ordeal.
The cop was seen clutching his bleeding head and was moved to a hospital.
The clash reportedly took place between two communities over alleged religious conversion in Edka village. A meeting was called by an Adivasi group which escalated into an argument. What started as chairs and stones being thrown around quickly became a full-scale fight, reported NDTV.
SP Kumar told the media that protesters arrived near Vishwa Dipti Christian School and charged toward the church on the premises. The police rushed to the spot after being alerted about the attack. It took the police about an hour to bring the situation under control. The group seemed convinced to disperse and were about to return when someone hit Kumar with a stick.
"We called the protestors to meet us. The collector and I spoke with them in the collector’s office. We appealed to them to keep the protest peaceful. But some among them chose violence and went to attack the church," said the official.
The idea behind the meeting was to submit a memorandum to the collector's office. "The vandals had kept a sabha (meeting) at 12 pm. We met their leaders before the sabha in our cabin and they promised us that the meeting would be peaceful and they would not resort to any violence but still they did. The memorandum was given to us by Sarva Adivasi Samaj. They gave such a complaint in the past as well. They alleged illegal conversions and illegal construction of churches are happening," said district collector Ajit Vasant.
An investigation has been launched into the incident.