 Please pray for a tribal Christian woman in eastern India who, it has been reported, was stripped, beaten and tied to a tree by Hindu extremists in eastern India.
While Subhasini Singh, aged 40, was meeting at the home of Gobinda Singh, who is not a Christian, for a Christmas lunch with five other families in Chhankhanpur village, Balasore District, Odisha state, on Boxing Day, five Hindu nationalists arrived at the property and began questioning them, said pastor Sadhu Sundar Singh.
After accusing them of forced conversion, the intruders ‘brutally assaulted Gobinda, his wife and teenage daughter’, said Pastor Sadhu, who had left the meal a few minutes before the attack as he was feeling unwell.
They then attacked Subhasini, first smearing a Christmas cake across her face and then beating her, she said. A number of villagers turned up and stood by watching as the men beat Gobinda's sister, Sukanti Singh, and her husband.
Subhasini suffered horrendous injuries. ‘They kicked me between my legs at least three times, and landed several blows on my chest, legs, face, knees and my head,’ she told Morning Star News (MSN).
The men then dragged Subhasini into a room, where she lost consciousness from the assault, she said. When she regained consciousness, she found herself naked and being dragged out of the room by some women.
‘I pleaded with the women to allow me to wear my blouse and saree before they dragged me outside the house and made a public show of me,’ she said. ‘I was in pain from head to toe. My private parts were also [hurting].’
Sukanti and her husband, also Christians, were severely assaulted. Subhasini said that after she put on her clothes, the mob tied her and Sukanti to a tree and continued hitting them, hanging a picture of Christ on the tree above their heads.
Videos on social media captured the full extent of the brutality. In one, both women are seen tied to a tree, forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram [Hail, lord Rama]’.
In another Subhasini’s accusers are shown ordering Sukanti and her husband to hit Subhasini or else they would assault them instead.
‘They forced Sukanti and her husband to hit me,’ Subhasini said, adding that she lost consciousness three times from the beatings.
The video also shows Sukanti’s husband badly injured from the assault.
Thankfully someone in the crowd eventually called the police, said Bishop Pallab Lima, who told MSN that if officers had not turned up ‘the men would have burned Subhasini alive’.
Pastor Sadhu, who leads the church where Subhasini serves as an evangelist, said, ‘Though [Gobinda] Singh constantly told the attackers that there was no [forced] conversion taking place in his house and that he had invited Subhasini over for a meal, the attackers continued to target the three Christians.’
As frequently happens in such cases, police took the three Christians into custody following a complaint by the Hindu extremists. The two women were then sent for medical attention.
‘No proper medical examination was done,’ Subhasini said. ‘Despite my being in excruciating pain, the doctor did not prescribe a single pain relief medicine nor examined my wounds or [injuries] in my private parts.’
Police registered multiple charges against Subhasini and Sukanti.
Gobinda, who, during the attack repeatedly denied any forced conversion attempts, filed his own complaint with police against the assailants, reiterating his stance.
Only after video of the assault went viral were seven people arrested, said Bishop Lima. A judge rejected their plea for bail last week. CP. |
|
|
.jpeg)