Pastors Arrested, Beaten in India
by Staff
February 5, 2008
(christiansunite.com) - Pastor Yashwant Paul was arrested in the Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh on charges of "fraud" on January 21, according to a January 8 report from the Evangelical Fellowship of India. The charges were originally brought against him in 2004 by a man who falsely claimed that the pastor and his wife had offered him 20,000 rupees ($508 CAD) and a job to convert to Christianity. Pastor Paul was charged under the Indian Penal Code with "cheating" (Section 420) and "criminal breach of trust" (Section 407) and detained in the local jail. His initial plea for bail was rejected by a magistrate.
Pastor Abraham (70) and several of his family members were beaten by militants while they were preparing for a weekly prayer meeting in the village of Tharamangalam, Tamil Nadu on the morning of January 18. At approximately 10:00 a.m., a group of local Hindus armed with rods and stones barged into Pastor Abraham's house, which is also used as a church building, and beat him, his wife and five children.
When the pastor went to the police station for help, several other Christians arrived at his home to attend the scheduled meeting and were attacked by the militants. Several of the beaten believers were hospitalized with serious injuries.
Pray for healing for those injured in this attack. Pray that Pastor Paul will be released and that the truth will come out in his case. Pray that Christians in India will continue to give themselves fully to the work of the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:50-58).
For more information on the persecution facing Christians in India, go to www.persecution.net/country/india.htm.
