MUMBAI: Hindu hardliners attacked two Christian missionaries in public in western India on Tuesday, the latest violence against priests accused by right-wing groups of trying to convert lower-caste Hindus to Christianity.

Indian TV channels showed Hindu activists kicking and punching the two young priests while dragging them through Kolhapur town in the southern part of Maharashtra state.

News footage showed an activist knee one priest in the groin, making him double up in pain. Another kicked the missionary in the head. The crowd accused the priests of forcibly converting poor Hindus, and handed them over to police. But a local Christian leader said those baptised had willingly changed their faith.

“The point is whether it was forced conversion or not is subject to a police investigation and is not to be judged by a mob,” Dolphy D'Souza said.

But police said the two missionaries had been arrested on complaints that they were fraudulently converting people.

Hardline Hindu groups -- some of them linked to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- accuse Christian priests of bribing poor tribes people and lower caste Hindus to change their faith.—Reuters

Opinion

Editorial

A dying light
Updated 23 Jan, 2025

A dying light

Objections to the 26th Amendment must be settled quickly for the Supreme Court's sake.
Controversial canals
23 Jan, 2025

Controversial canals

THE Punjab government’s contentious plans to build new canals to facilitate corporate farming in the province ...
Killjoys
23 Jan, 2025

Killjoys

THE skies over Lahore have fallen silent. Punjab’s latest legislation banning kite flying represents a troubling...
Errant ECP
Updated 22 Jan, 2025

Errant ECP

THE ECP has once again earned a detailed reprimand from the Supreme Court. That it still refuses to correct course is ominous
Fast-tracking M6
Updated 22 Jan, 2025

Fast-tracking M6

GRAND infrastructure projects in Pakistan often progress at the pace of a bullock cart rather than a bullet train....
Gwadar airport
Updated 22 Jan, 2025

Gwadar airport

THE air connectivity established by the inauguration of PIA flights between Karachi and Gwadar is a major step...