Pastor falsely accused of illegal religious conversions forced to vacate house church in Karnataka

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Radical Hindu nationalists in Karnataka use an independent church pastor's landlord and neighborhood to pressurise him to vacate his rented home where he used to organize worship gatherings and prayer meetings.

According to pastor Nallabothula Peter, the radicals falsely accused him of involvement in conversion of the entire colony to Christian faith and threatened to break his hands and legs.

"I received several unknown phone calls with abusive language that claimed I am involved in illegal religious conversions and that I don't have right to live in the area," pastor Peter told International Christian Concern (ICC).

The radicals also pressurised the pastor's neighbors to file a complaint against him for organizing prayer meetings.

"For more than six years, we have been conducting house prayers and there were absolutely no complaints from anyone in our neighborhood. This was planned and targeted in a way to shut down the house church and send me out of the colony," pastor Peter told ICC.

The radicals are indirectly using the pastor's landlord and neighbors to attack him and chase him out of the colony. The Christian leader hopes to receive a little more time to vacate his house church because the ongoing pandemic has made it difficult to find a new place to stay.

"It will be a miracle if I rent a house in the same area. The Hindu radicals already alerted the entire area to not rent out their houses to me," pastor Peter told ICC.