Five of six pastors jailed in central-eastern India on July 20 after false allegations of forcible conversion were assaulted in custody so severely they have laceration scars, sources said.
Pastor Moses Logan of Bhilai, Durg District, Chhattisgarh state said the jailor and guards at Durg jail beat the five other pastors on July 21.
“We had done nothing – was any crime established against us?” Pastor Logan told Morning Star News. “They grabbed the opportunity, and without any trial or evidence beat us mercilessly, simply because we are Christians.”
Accusing the Christians of forcible conversions, a Hindu mob had disrupted the church service of Pastor Abhinav Baksh with obscenities and loud hymns to their gods on July 20. Police responded by bussing nearly half the Christian congregation to the police station in Jamul, charging the six pastors under provisions that allow officers to make arrests to prevent cognizable offenses.
After the July 20 arrests, the pastors were moved to Durg jail the same evening.
“The Christian community is no longer safe in their homes, in churches, and now they are not safe even inside jails,” Pastor Logan said. “Those we run to for protection, safety and justice are the ones who show partiality and injustice, beat us instead, and make us regret that we trusted them. Seeking refuge from the police is a dangerous proposition.”
In the Durg jail, officers forced everyone except Pastor Logan to remove their clothes for inspection.
“I was spared, I guess, because I had told them that I was unwell,” he said.
After spending the night in the barracks, the next morning the jailor interrogated the pastors, asking about personal details as well as occupations.
“Unaware of the consequences and treating the questioning as standard operating procedure, the pastors identified as such, while I told the jailor that I was in the security business, because that is what I do as a bi-vocational pastor,” Pastor Logan said. “Upon hearing that the five were pastors, the jailer ordered them to be beaten up.”
After ordering the pastors to raise their hands, they hit them on their buttocks, knees, back of thighs and back of knees with long wooden sticks, the batons that police use in India, Pastor Logan said. He added that they struck several blows using all their strength.
“The trauma was unbearable for me. I cannot imagine the pain they endured,” he said.
Photographs of their injuries reveal visible lacerations and provide stark evidence of police brutality.
City Christian leaders along with family members of the pastors somehow managed to secure their bail, and the six pastors were released around 7 p.m. on July 21.
Pastor Baksh was reluctant to comment. During his church service on July 20, the mob of about 35 Hindu extremists had crowded in front of the church gate and began sloganeering, using derogative language against them and Christianity.
A video on social media shows the Hindu mob shouting slogans like, “Hit those b******s carrying out conversion with shoes”; “Hit the traitors of the nation with shoes”; and “The pride of the nation is Bajrang Dal [a Hindu extremist organization].”
Pastor Baksh called Pastor Logan, who immediately contacted the Jamul police station and requested help. Pastor Logan reached the church around 3 p.m. with 25-30 policemen and found that Bajrang Dal members were parked in front of the church building loudly singing hymns to the Hindu god Hanuman and shouting slogans.
To keep his congregation of about 100 safe, Pastor Baksh had locked the church gate and latched the church doors from inside, where many women and children were present.
A policeman scaled the church walls and knocked on the doors, asking Pastor Baksh to open them, Pastor Logan said. After the doors opened, police attempted to placate the Hindu extremists and also spoke to church members.
The Hindu nationalists alleged that forcible and fraudulent conversions were going on in the church and demanded action against the Christians and their leaders. The Christians defended their right to worship, which brought sloganeering by the extremists.
After this went on for some time, police ordered the entire church congregation to accompany them to the police station and arranged for a bus. The bus, however, could hold only 35 to 40 people, and after it filled up, officers let the others go home.
“So, about 40 Christians were taken to the police station with us pastors,” said Pastor Logan.
Video recordings show Hindu extremists shouting in victory and laughing and celebrating as the bus, filled with Christians, was about to leave the church premise for the police station.
Three churches hold separate services on Sundays at the site. The first service runs from 8 to 10 a.m., followed by Pastor Logan’s service from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Pastor Baksh’s service from 1:30 to 4 p.m.
At the Jamul police station, officers suddenly insisted that five names from among the Christians be given to them so that they could be charged under some minor sections of the law.
“I refused to give them five names,” said Pastor Logan. “Instead, I requested them to register a case against those who attacked our church. I told them we are innocent.”
Despite his insistence, the officer in-charge maintained that he would have to book the Christians under a minor act, admitting that there was a lot of pressure on him to do so, Pastor Logan said.
Officers then interrogated each Christian, asking them their names, addresses and occupation, but ultimately charged only Pastor Logan, Pastor Baksh, Pastor K. Thomas Gunta, Pastor Komal Kothari, Pastor Om Prakash Sahu and Pastor Satya Kumar.
The detained pastors were then taken to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate for bail, who had already left, so they were sent to the Durg jail.
Pastor Logan said the other five pastors were traumatized and fearful.
Police informed Pastor Logan that a First Information Report (FIR) had been registered against him, Pastor Baksh, Pastor Thomas and Pastor M. Jonathan under sections related only to their participation in July 22 protests: 191(2) against “punishment for rioting” and 221 against “voluntarily obstructing any public servant in the discharge of his public functions” of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, dated July 25, under FIR 617/25.
Demanding Justice
About 400 Christians protested in front of the Jamul Police station on the afternoon of July 22, demanding the arrest of the Hindu extremists.
Police told the Christians to submit a memorandum, which officers received on July 24. The memorandum appealed for concrete action from police against the extremists and condemned the criminal charges and subsequent beating of the pastors inside the jail.
The FIR against the pastors remains active, while no charges have been filed against extremists or the jail officials despite the torture allegations.
“Here in Chhattisgarh, they are targeting all the smaller churches,” Pastor Logan said. “In Bastar, many churches [60 to 70], have been shut down. Even funerals are not allowed; they are not allowing Christians to bury their dead. Christians are not permitted to celebrate their birthdays. Hindu extremists target every private celebration taking place in Christian homes. They barge into homes, disrupt their joy, create chaos, falsely accuse them of carrying out forced conversions and register false complaints against the Christians.”
Christian support organization Open Doors ranks India 11th on its 2025 World Watch List of countries where Christians face the most severe persecution. India stood at 31st place in 2013 but has steadily fallen in the rankings since Narendra Modi came to power as prime minister.
Religious rights advocates blame the increasingly hostile rhetoric of the National Democratic Alliance government, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which they say has emboldened Hindu extremists in India since Modi took power in May 2014.
