Two pastors were attacked during Holy Week in Karnataka, India, as they distributed Christian literature in a village in Shivamogga district.

According to local sources, on March 31, the pastors, who are part of a Brethren Assembly, visited a neighboring village to distribute gospel tracts and Bibles during Holy Week. During this activity, two Hindu nationalists approached the pastors.

The men verbally abused the pastors, pushing them and dragging them as they attempted to return to their vehicle. The attackers accused the pastors of attempting religious conversion and “spoiling Hindu culture,” while asserting that the local community did not need a “foreign God.”

The confrontation escalated as additional individuals became involved. The Hindus assaulted the pastors and took their literature.

Nearly 80 % of India’s 1.4 billion people are Hindu, and a growing number of them want to see India as a purely Hindu nation. Christians make up only 2.3% of the population, which still amounts to about 32 million people.

One of the pastors injured last week, identified as “Madhan,” aged 60, sustained injuries to his face, chest, head, and eye. Due to his age and condition, he experienced breathing difficulties and required emergency medical care.

“We would have been killed if police had not intervened in time,” Pastor Madhan told International Christian Concern (ICC). “The police eventually arrived at the scene, rescued us, and took us to the hospital for treatment.”

Karnataka is among several Indian states that have anti-conversion laws in place. Critics have argued that such laws are sometimes misused, leading to tensions and incidents involving minority religious communities.

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