A church was attacked and the bible was desecrated in New Delhi during Sunday prayers.
Over 100 individuals affiliated with Bajrang Dal, RSS, and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) gathered outside the GTB Enclave police station in Delhi on Sunday, August 20.
The demonstration followed an incident involving members of the Christian community attempting to file a First Information Report (FIR) against these groups, Muslim Mirror reported.
The Christian community alleges that Bajrang Dal members attacked them while they were engaged in prayers, an event that has left a deep rift in the local community.
Eyewitness accounts reveal that on the morning of August 20, around 10:30-11:00 am, members of the Christian community were holding prayers within a church located in the Tahirpur area.
Suddenly, a group of individuals entered the premises armed with sticks and swords. Using a loudspeaker, they proclaimed slogans like ‘Hindu Rashtra will be created, Jai Shri Ram’, creating an atmosphere of tension and fear.
According to Shivam, an eyewitness to the incident, the intruders entered the church without permission and ordered the prayer gathering to cease, asserting that the nation was no longer secular and that the legal landscape had undergone a transformation. The intrusion escalated into violence as the intruders reportedly attacked the worshipers with sticks, resulting in multiple injuries. Shivam’s sister and several women were among those wounded in the altercation.
Video footage obtained by The Wire, a news outlet, displayed extensive vandalism within the church premises, including a torn Bible and a damaged stained glass depiction of Christ. The incident left members of the Christian community traumatized and fearful for their safety.
Outside the GTB Enclave police station, tensions escalated as the groups supporting the attackers chanted slogans, including ‘Jai Shri Ram’, which is commonly associated with Hindu religious sentiment. Anmol, an RSS worker, expressed bewilderment over the Christian community’s choice of location for prayer, given the area’s Hindu-majority demographic.
Pastor Satpal Bhatti, who leads the church where the incident occurred, spoke to The Wire about the distressing incident. He lamented the lack of safety for citizens in their own country and emphasized that the Christian community had been engaging in prayers at the location for 13 years without any prior issues.