Pastor In India Loses Hearing, Suffers Severe Head Wounds Following Assault By Hindu Extremists
Another pastor in India has tasted the wrath of Hindu extremists after they hit him with iron rods and sticks, leaving him bleeding from the head.
Pastor Sikandar Kumar, 45, suffered such a severe beating that he lost his hearing, the Morning Star News reported.
The Hindu extremists attacked him just outside his home, which is inside church property, in Jadhua village in India's Bihar state last month, sources said.
Sikandar was at his home when a young boy knocked on his door on April 5, telling him and his wife that a group of men were waiting outside to meet him, according to Pastor Arun Kumar, who is now leading the victim's Pentecostal congregation.
"When the pastor stepped out, 15 men started beating him and accused him of conversions in the village," Arun told Morning Star News.
He said the attackers hit the pastor with their iron rods and sticks, until the victim fell to the ground with a deep wound on his head.
The police initially detained five suspects but released them when the pastor failed to identify them.
Arun said the attackers even stole the pastor's mobile phone.
This was not the first that Pastor Sikandar had been attacked. On Feb. 10, he and other church members were also pounced upon by Hindu extremists, Arun said.
"He even wrote to the chief minister and other government officials in February," he said. "He didn't receive any great response."
Meanwhile, a 47-year-old Christian professor who fell into a coma on Jan. 21 after being attacked by Hindu extremists has been discharged from the hospital, according to the Morning Star News, citing his wife, Kusuma Sujata, as source.
K.A. Swamy, the 47-year-old professor, also suffered brain hemorrhage due to hypertension as a result of the brutal attack.
India ranked 15th on Open Doors' 2017 World Watch List of the 50 countries where Christians face the most intense persecution.
The persecution watchdog notes that radical Hinduism has been on the upswing since May 2014 when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, took power. Since then, radical Hindus have been regularly attacking Christians with impunity.
