ICC Note:

Reports claim that a Christian prayer hall in the village of Gopanpally, located in the Nizamabad District of Telangana, was burned to the ground by unidentified people. It is likely that this attack was carried out by members of local Hindu radical groups who earlier this year attacked another church. In that previous attack, 6 Christians were injured including a 4-year-old girl whose leg was broken. Indian Christians have called on the government to protect them over the Easter Holiday, but it seems that the attacks from Hindu radicals may continue as normal. 

3/24/2016 India (Christian Daily) – In another case of persecution of Christians in India, a makeshift Christian prayer hall was burnt to the ground by unidentified people in the Gopanpally village of Nizamabad in Telangana, India this month.

The Nizamabad police has yet to make an arrest, but a case has already been filed. The police superintendent said that members of the neighboring village Panchayat were against the construction of the prayer hall.

In addition, just prior to the burning of the prayer hall, a local pastor and members of his congregation in Nizamabad were beaten by a mob of 40 Hindu radicals. The congregation was allegedly trying to convert the Hindus to Christianity. Six persons were hurt from the attack, among them a four-year-old girl whose leg was broken.

“It was a very scary scene. They tore my cassock and I received blows, punches, kicks from all directions as I was their prime target. Bibles were snatched from us and were tore and trampled [on]. Believers ran to all directions as they were chased by the mob,” Pastor Nitin Kumar told Zee News.

On Sunday, after hearing the news about the burning of the prayer hall, Kalvakuntla Kavitha, a member of the Indian Parliament whose constituency is in Nizamabad, downplayed the gravity of the situation. Nevertheless, she still assured everyone that the regime will never let such atrocities happen to minorities.

…