ICC Note: Pastor Avianshu Kalra has had his life turned upside down by Hindu extremists in India’s Haryana state. Extremists have falsely accused Pastor Kalra of forcefully converting Hindus to Christianity and have relentlessly harassed his family. This terror campaign against Pastor Kalra is unfortunately quite a common experience for Christian leaders suffering persecution in India.

08/21/2018 India (Morning Star News) – When a Hindu in northern India got rid of the idols in his house after several visits to a church, Hindu nationalists found the perfect opportunity to make life a nightmare for a pastor’s family, sources said.

Since the Hindu nationalists accused pastor Avianshu Kalra of desecration of Hindu idols and forcible conversion in Ambala, Haryana state, he and his family have had to leave their home, his wife has suffered pregnancy complications, and his father has been suspended from his work as a journalist after being hit with a defamation suit.

The 32-year-old Assemblies of God pastor of Karuna House of Prayer had to keep his 4-year-old son out of preschool for a week after a Hindu extremist-led mob of 200 people on July 11 blocked the entry and exit to his home and church compound and chanted threats.

“My mother was all alone and was terrified,” Pastor Kalra said, noting that he and his wife had gone to pick up their son from school, and his father was away at work. “The mob was shouting, ‘Come out, we will not spare you, we will burn you.’”

The mob accused him of forcibly converting a Hindu family and destroying their Hindu deities and images of Sikh gurus. Pastor Kalra said he was thankful to God that he did not return home while the mob was still there or they would have attacked him, his four-months pregnant wife and son.

Officers arrived and took the mob to the police station, but no action was taken against them, he said.

“They were allowed to leave the police station, after which they went and blocked the National Highway for about 11 minutes,” said Pastor Kalra, noting that it is a non-bailable offense to block a national highway.

Denying the accusations, Pastor Kalra on July 12 submitted a written complaint requesting intervention against extremist threats to life and property at the Baldev Nagar police station.

That evening Hindu extremists filed a complaint, and police registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the pastor, his wife Ritu Kalra, his father Pardeep Gulati and mother Kalpana for allegedly wounding religious feelings and insulting someone’s religion. The complaint was filed under the guidance of the leader of the mob, a member of the Shiv Sena (Army of Shivaji), a Hindu nationalist political party, the pastor said.

Pastor Kalra’s father quickly met an influential minister of the state government who instructed the superintendent of police to carry out a fair investigation, but the family left home on July 13 to avoid arrest, he said.

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