Barnabas Aid - International Headquarters River Street, Pewsey, Wilthire. Phone: +44 1672 565030 Latitude: 51 deg 23 min 18 sec N Longitude: 1 deg 45 min 48 sec W .
Christian children’s home in India attac...

Email:

Christian children’s home in India attacked by mob amid false accusations of converting children

To

Email address:
Separate multiple addresses with a comma (,). Maximum of 10

From

Your name:
Your email address:
Security test:
Please enter the numbers that appear here in the box below.
refresh captcha
CAPTCHA Image
Security code:

Details provided here will never be used in any other context

Christian children’s home in India attacked by mob amid false accusations of converting children

Country/Region: South and East Asia, India

A Christian-run children’s home in India has been attacked by a group of Muslim extremists who beat staff and visitors and vandalised property. Islamic leaders have falsely accused the group running the home of converting Muslim children.

A violent mob forced its way inside the Christian-run children’s home
A violent mob forced its way inside the Christian-run children’s home

A group of mullahs descended on the home in Srinagar, in the predominantly Muslim state of Jammu and Kashmir, on 10 April. During the attack they tried to kill Pastor Neethi Rajan, who runs the home, and attempted to kidnap the children staying there.

When the pastor and his family refused to let the Islamic leaders take the children, saying that only a parent or relative could remove them, another group of men arrived, armed with rocks and sticks. The mob beat the family and their guests, smashed windows and forced their way inside. They also vandalised a vehicle belonging to the home.

When police officers arrived, the distraction allowed the pastor’s family to hide in the attic. He described the terrifying raid, saying:

Watching through the floor boards, we could see the men searching rooms. They tried to light the house on fire, but the police stopped them.

The violence was brought to an end when riot police arrived and escorted the family and children to safety. But the militants have also threatened the home’s landlord, who has told the ecumenical Christian group that runs the institution to vacate the premises. They also killed the home’s pet dog.

Police found the mullahs’ accusation that the home was converting Muslim children to be groundless, and the Christian group has filed a report against them. The families of all eight children staying at the children’s home have made statements in support of the work it is doing.

In the month prior to the attack, the mullahs seized two children from the home and took them to Islamic schools. The children’s parents were threatened in the night by masked men.

In general, Christians in India are most vulnerable to attack by Hindu nationalists, but in Kashmir, an area that is 99% Muslim, they face persecution by Islamic extremists. Some organisations press for the introduction of sharia law in the area. A 119-year-old church in Srinagar was torched by Islamists in May 2012.

Help us: Share this article

Email:

Christian children’s home in India attacked by mob amid false accusations of converting children

To

Email address:
Separate multiple addresses with a comma (,). Maximum of 10

From

Your name:
Your email address:
Security test:
Please enter the numbers that appear here in the box below.
refresh captcha
CAPTCHA Image
Security code:

Details provided here will never be used in any other context

christian, persecution, charity, church, persecuted, sookhdeo, Islam

Other articles

Follow Barnabas

or

receive news & appeal emails as they are published

From Twitter

From Twitter_icon

    Daily prayer

    Daily prayer_icon
    • In Saudi Arabia, it is illegal to practise a non-Islamic religion in public but supposedly permissible to do in private. Nevertheless, Christians are sometimes arrested for meeting to worship in a private home. Pray that the Lord will protect all Christian believers in Saudi Arabia, including the many expatriate workers from Asia and Africa, and especially the much smaller number of Saudi converts from Islam, whose lives are in real danger if their faith is discovered. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed 7 hours ago

    • The UN estimates that there have been roughly 1,500 Iraqi women and children from the Christian and Yazidi communities abducted by ISIS and then forced into sexual slavery. Pray for them and also for the hundreds of Christian, Yazidi and Turkmen women held in Badush Prison in Mosul, Iraq by ISIS militants. The women are reported to be raped daily unless they agree to convert to ISIS’s brand of Sunni Islam. Ask our Heavenly Father to have mercy on each one of these women and children and to deliver them from evil. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Mon, Dec 2014 00:00

    • Around 200,000 Iraqi Christians and other minorities have been displaced from their homes due to attacks by Islamic State militants. Pray for all these displaced people who have no permanent home this winter, and who have mostly lost everything they possessed. Pray that God will protect them from illness and cold. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Sun, Dec 2014 00:00

    • Iranian Pastor Behnam continues to serve a six-year prison sentence. He is in solitary confinement and suffers serious health problems. Pray for his congregation left leaderless and desolate. Pray that God will be his refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble. (Psalm 46:1) Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Sat, Dec 2014 00:00

    • Remembering that the infant Lord Jesus Himself fled from threats of violence with His parents, pray for the Pakistanis from various persecuted minorities who had sought asylum in Sri Lanka but are now being deported back to Christmas concert at a school in Bethlehem that Barnabas Aid supports Pakistan. This is happening despite protests by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Those being deported include Christians, Ahmadiyyas and Shia Muslims, all of whom are vulnerable to persecution in Pakistan. For example, any Christian who has been accused under the “blasphemy law” is at extreme risk of being murdered even if they have been cleared of the charges. Pray for their protection. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Fri, Dec 2014 00:00

    © Barnabas Aid 1997 - 2014 All rights reserved.
    Barnabas Aid is a registered trade mark