ICC Note:

According to reports, a Christian man living in India’s northeastern state of Orissa, now called Odisha, was murdered by a mob of Hindu radicals after his son received baptism. In the village of Dherubada, a local Christian community baptized 29 new Christians. Following the ceremony, the father of one of those baptized was attacked by a mob of radicals and murdered. Shortly after the attack, the son of the man witnessed the Hindu radicals with his fathers body and had his life threatened. Now the Christian community in that area is demanding justice, but is also finding itself under greater threat from local radicals. Please pray for these persecuted Christians. 

6/11/2014 India (Asia News) – “We killed your father because he refused to deny Jesus Christ.” This is what one of the sons of Nimmaka Laxmaya was told by his father’s killers, when he found the man’s lifeless body near a village in Orissa. In fact, the group of Hindu radicals killed him by “mistake”. The goal was just his young son, “guilty” of having received baptism. The incident occurred on May 25 last, but news of the murder only filtered through today. It was confirmed to AsiaNews by the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), which expresses “outrage for what happened” and demands justice for the “increasingly vulnerable” Christian minority.

On the morning of May 25 in the village of Dherubada, inhabited by tribal Kondho, Rev. Ben Christom officiated at a christening ceremony for 29 people, including the youngest son of Nimmaka. At the end of a meal consumed with the community, the man – 50 years – walked towards his home alone, carrying the clothes worn by his son during the ceremony. Along the way a group of fanatical Hindus attacked him, mistaking him for one of the newly baptized.

It later emerged that they had been ordered to find and kill the Christian, because he had just received baptism. Faced with the father’s refusal to deny Jesus Christ, the mob bound him by the neck, dragging him like an animal. The split his head with a stone, to kill him, then dumped his body into a wooded area near the road.

Only moments later, the son discovered the tragedy: he was returning home and noticed fresh blood on the ground.  He followed the trail and found the assassins still close to his father’s body. “If you come any nearer- they told him – we will kill you too”. The terrified young man ran for help.  On returning with the Pastor and others, the mob had fled.

The community denounced the murder to the police who arrested the culprits. Since then, however, things have gotten worse: the supporters of the group continue to threaten Rev. Christom and Christians in the area with a similar fate if they still refuse to deny Christ.

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