Christians, who were charged under India’s anti-uniform law after Hindu nationalists attacked the church, are seeking predicted bail from the Supreme Court of India.
Rajesh Sharma said his plea for the expected bail was rejected in the lower and high courts of Chhattisgarh. Sharma and others were booked after 70-100 hardline Hindu mobs led by members of Hindu nationalist Bajarandhar cut off the power of the 120-member God Church of Raipur and attacked them during the service on March 9th.
“The mob was accompanied by a small number of police officers and attacked them in front of the police. They were just standing there as spectators because the numbers were so low,” said the 66-year-old Rev. Praveen Lawrence of the Church of God in Raipur.
The Hindu mob shouted slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram (Praise King Rama),” “Stop conversions”, and “Remove people who carry out conversions.”
The mob, a smashing car and motorcycle belonging to members of the congregation, attacked the vehicle with a church chair, smashed surveillance cameras and attacked four injured Christians, including two women, Pastor Lawrence said.
“They really tried so hard to open the church door. They damaged the wall that supported the door they were trying to get inside,” Pastor Lawrence’s pastor and son, 38, told Morningstar News. “If they had succeeded, many Christians would have been assaulted and injured, in addition to the entire infrastructure within the church that would have been damaged.”
The mobs attacked the Christians. Some members of the congregation came out into the hall of the church, where Hindu men beat Christian men and Hindu women attacked Christian women.
“They hit us with chairs, long wooden sticks, fists, shoes and slippers,” said Bipin Lawrence, whose forehead was damaged.
The mob caught him while he spoke to them and hit him with a wooden stick and fist besides kicking him. One of them was wearing something in his sharp hands, Vipin Lawrence said.
“Someone slammed the head with a wooden stick and there was darkness right in front of me,” he said. “I didn’t know where I was standing. A member of the church pulled me out of the mob and the police took us into the church to prevent further injuries.”
Abhishek Samson was attacked and attacked with sharp objects. He wasn’t sure if it was a knife or a sharp plastic object. He maintained a deep cut beneath his chest, near the rib.
The mob repeatedly hit a 45-year-old woman in footwear. The 24-year-old young woman maintained a muscle pull after being pulled into her arm, and the attack left her bleeding in her thumb.
“We didn’t rely on violent measures and did not retaliate,” Pastor Lawrence said. “The police are our witnesses and the catastrophe took place in front of the police.”
He added that even after police reinforcements arrived, the mob still attacked. Ultimately, officers were able to save all church members, including many who secured themselves within the church hall.
The mob smashed the car’s windshield and damaged televisions, cameras, wash basins, water dispensers, faucets, pots, helmets, footwear removed by congregation members before entering the hall, as well as motorcycles and scooters bander-raised with wooden sticks.
Officers escorted Vipin Lawrence and 50 church members to the local police station of the police van through a crazy mob. Officers questioning them also asked for their address, name, religion and identification before releasing at 8:30pm.
A large crowd of over 100 Hindu extremists gathered outside the police station and demanded arrest.
“When each Christian appears, the mob surrounds them, humiliates them, and verbally abuses them,” said Bipin Lawrence. “We faced massive harassment from both Hindu extremists and police.”
The guards of the church grounds Sharma, Abhishek Samson, Priesh Kumar and Munna Gaard were first in the First Information Report (FIR) No. 9th March by Manish Verma of Amanaka Police Station in Raipur district. It was named 78. It causes wounds, obscene acts, defiling the place of worship, and prohibits religious transformation by force or seduction under the Chhattisgarh Religion Freedom Act of 1968.
“Rajesh Sharma is not a member of our church and never attended the church on the day of the attack, but he was named in the FIR,” Vipin Lawrence said.
Christian had planned to proceed with the expected bail application one at a time, so that the other three would only apply after Sharma had obtained a court order in favour of him, Pastor Junior explained.
Sudden objection
He said the church had worshipped for 18 years without incident or objection after the Rev. Lawrence built the church building in 2007.
Tensions began on February 23rd after the colonial conference. The Hindus proposed building a temple in a common area near the church. The church had turned part of the land into a playground for the children of the colony.
Representatives of five to seven Christian households in the colony agreed to the construction of Hindu temples, but proposed that appropriate distances should be constructed from the church so that the sounds of worship do not interfere with each other.
“We don’t want Christian functions like Christmas and weddings to cause any kind of disturbance in the Hindu neighborhoods worshiped in the temple,” Pastor Lawrence told the community.
According to the senior pastor, another Christian at the conference said, “If a dog carries chicken bones from the church grounds and accidentally drops them near the temple, it would hurt religious feelings. It could cause Christians to be eaten towards the temple, throw bones intentionally, causing misunderstanding and destruction, and lead to peace and harmony among the community.”
Some people at the conference shared these comments with Hindu nationalists from outside the colony, misrepresenting the phrase “Christians eat chicken and throw bones towards Hindu temples to defile Hindu temples,” Vipin Lawrence said.
A few weeks after the attack on March 9, residents built Hindu temples in common areas intended for use by all colonial residents, Vipin Lawrence said.
On Good Friday (April 18th), Hindus performed loud Hindu worship songs during church services, “sacrificing confusion not only in church services but also in the entire colony residents,” he said.
On the same day, as Christians were indicted, Vipin Lawrence filed a rebuttal to Amanaka Police Station against four identified attackers, in addition to the unidentified attackers.
No arrests have been made on either side based on the complaint.
The lower court denied Sharma’s plea for expected bail, and on April 9th the High Court refused.
“We are scheduled to move to the Supreme Court this week,” Vipin Lawrence said Tuesday (April 29th). “On Rajesh’s bail, we will apply to others in the lower court.”
Christian support organization Open Door ranks 11th in India on the 2025 global watch list where Christians face the toughest persecution. India came in 31st in 2013, but has steadily fallen in the rankings since Narendra Modi took power as prime minister.
Defenders of religious rights point to the hostile tone of the National Democratic Alliance government led by the Hindu nationalist BJP who said that since Modi came to power in May 2014, he has encouraged Hindu extremists in India.
