Close to one hundred Christian worshippers cowered behind locked church doors as Hindu extremists surrounded their building, shouting violent threats on a Sunday afternoon in Chhattisgarh state recently.
Around 35 members of the Bajrang Dal, a right-wing militant Hindu organisation gathered outside Grace church in Durg district during Pastor Abhinav Baksh’s afternoon service on July 20, forcing him to barricade the congregation inside for their safety. Many of the worshippers were women and children.
Social media footage captured the mob shouting inflammatory slogans, including “Hit those b*&%@#*& carrying out conversion with shoes” and “Hit the traitors of the nation with shoes.”
Baksh called Pastor Moses Logan, who owns the church building, which is duly registered and known as a Church for the last 35 years. Logan rushed to the scene after Baksh’s urgent phone call. Logan contacted Jamul police station and arrived with 25-30 officers around 3pm to find extremists singing Hindu hymns and shouting outside the gates.
Police and Logan scaled the church walls to reach the trapped congregation. After persuading Baksh to unlock the doors, officers attempted to mediate between the groups. The Hindu extremists demanded action against the Christians, alleging illegal conversions were taking place inside the church.
Following prolonged confrontation, police ordered the entire congregation to accompany them to the station. A bus arrived that could accommodate only 40 people, forcing police to release the remaining worshippers while extremists celebrated as the packed bus departed.
At Jamul police station, officers demanded five names from the Christian group so that Christians could be charged under minor legal provisions. Logan refused to comply.
“I refused to provide names for false charges and instead asked police to arrest those who disrupted our service,” Logan told Christian Today.
Police interrogated each person before booking six who identified as pastors: Logan, Baksh, K Thomas Gunta, Komal Kothari, Om Prakash Sahu and Satya Kumar. The arrested pastors were then taken to the magistrate who had left for the day so the pastors were sent to Durg jail that evening.
Inside the jail, guards asked all six pastors if they had any medical conditions. Logan was the only one who reported having a medical condition and was therefore exempted from the routine strip search and physical inspection, while the other five pastors were made to remove their clothes for examination.
The following morning, the jailer called for the Christians and asked them about their occupations. While Logan told the jailer he was in the security business, the rest told him that they were pastors. Upon learning five were pastors, the jailer singled them out for punishment and ordered their beating. Guards struck them repeatedly with wooden batons on their buttocks, knees, thighs and backs.
“It was devastating to witness such brutality. The physical abuse they endured was horrific,” said Logan.
Photographs circulated through church networks showed extensive lacerations. The pastors secured bail on 21 July after community leaders intervened.
Four hundred Christians gathered outside Jamul police station on 22 July, demanding justice for the church attack and torture of their pastors while the perpetrators remained free. The protest continued for two days with police taking no action against the extremists or jail officials responsible for the beatings.
Police threatened the protesters that continued demonstrations would result in charges against them. Despite these warnings, Christians discovered online that authorities had already filed cases against four of their leaders.
Police registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Logan, Baksh, Pastor Thomas and Pastor M. Jonathan under sections 191(2) for rioting and 221 for obstructing public servants, relating to their participation in the July 22 protests. The charges, filed on 25 July under FIR 617/25, targeted the victims seeking justice rather than those who attacked the church or tortured the pastors.
No charges have been filed against the Hindu extremists who stormed the church or the jail officials who beat the pastors in custody. The FIR against the pastors remains active while torture allegations are not being investigated.
