Hindutva extremists brutally assault pastor, force him to eat cow dung

Dhenkanal/Odisha: Bajrang Dal, the Hindutva extremist group, brutally assaulted a pastor here, forced him to chant Jai Sree Ram, and made him eat cow dung. The incident happened on January 4, when the pastor, Bipin Bihari Naik, his wife, and a few others were attending a prayer meeting at a house in Parjang village, Maktoob Media reported.

During the prayer meeting, a mob of 40 people gathered outside the house and demanded that the pastor come out. When he said that he would do so only after he finished the prayers, the mob barged into the house and started beating everyone, the pastor’s wife, Vandana, told Maktoob Media.

She said that there were around seven families, including children, present inside the house. Once the attack started, she, along with her children, managed to run out of the house and find shelter at a nearby police station, Vandana said.

The pastor, who was the main target for the mob, was dragged outside the house and beaten on every part of his body with sticks. The Hindutva criminals smeared his face with red sindoor, and he was made to wear a garland of slippers.

Bajrang Dal criminals were also accompanied by some villagers. They paraded her husband throughout the village for around two hours. Though Vandana kept pleading for help at the police station, they reached the village only after two hours. She also said that the police had attempted to mislead her, claiming there was no one in the village.

However, she insisted and was able to take the police to the village, but when they reached there, they found that her husband, the pastor, was tied to a Hanuman temple, with both his hands tied behind a rod. He was forced to eat cow dung and was bleeding badly, Vandana lamented. People were forcing him to chant Jai Sree Ram and slapping them.

It is learned that the Hindutva mob attacked the pastor, claiming he was conducting forced conversions.

Even though the police first refused to register a complaint, it is learned.

According to the pastor, the mob threatened that they would burn his family and their house.