Plans to burn several church buildings in central India came to an end Feb. 12 after police arrested three Hindu extremists — but not before they had set one structure ablaze, Morning Star News reported.
Pastor Mahesh Kumre of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chaukipura village, Madhya Pradesh, said he found the building charred when he arrived to start the worship service.
“The walls were blackened with the smoke from the fire, the electrical switchboard burnt and the name ‘Ram’ written on one of the inside walls of the church in Hindi language,” Pastor Kumre told Morning Star News.
Before Christmas the 60-year-old pastor had refurbished the five-year-old structure.
“All the furniture, including the chairs, wooden pulpit, carpets, table, tambourines, frame drums and a Bible were burned using some inflammatory liquid, which turned everything into ashes,” Kumre said.
He reported the matter to police, and investigating officers arrested Avneesh Pandey, a 24-year-old from Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh.
List of churches to attack
Officers found that Pandey’s friend, 24-year-old Aakash Tiwari of Jhansi, had sent him locations of churches to be attacked, police superintendent Gurkaran Singh reported.
Singh emphasized the Hindu assailants were “basically fringe elements” who did not belong to an extremist group or political party.
India ranked 11th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. The country was 31st in 2013.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written and originally published by Morning Star News.
