Source:         www.compassdirect.org

Date:            August 31, 2007

Authorities ignore attacks on Christian family, arrest of victims.

by Vishal Arora

NEW DELHI, August 31 (Compass Direct News) – A series of attacks on a Dalit Christian pastor in Tamil Nadu state earlier this year ended in Hindu extremists allegedly murdering his brother last month.

Pastor Paul Chinnaswamy of Krishnagiri district has also seen his house vandalized, and he and his son have been arrested on unfounded charges of “forced conversion.”

After two attacks by Hindu extremists in April and May, the worst came on July 29. Two Hindu extremists who had earlier attacked the 51-year-old Pastor Chinnaswamy arrived by motor-scooter to the house of his older brother, Amos, a Christian convert from Hinduism.

The pastor’s brother had angrily shouted at the two extremists when they and others had attacked the independent church leader earlier this year, said Dr. Sajan K. George, national president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC).

“The two men pulled down a small hut that was put up in front of Amos’ house and hit him with a log on his head and back,” George told Compass. “When he fell down, they crushed his head with large boulders and threatened the shocked wife and mother-in-law that they would be killed if they too did not throw stones at his body.”

Shouting in grief and fear and feeling they had no option, the women complied, George said. The extremists left. They had killed him, George said, to avenge his angry words over the attacks on his brother.

The two women ran to Chinnigiripalli village, under Uddinapalli police station jurisdiction, and locals rushed to the scene.

Police then arrested the two women, accusing the victim’s wife and mother-in-law of the murder, and remanded them to judicial custody, according to Circle Inspector R. Vajram of the Rayakota Circle.  

“Amos was 58 years old, and his wife is about 30 – there were tensions between the couple,” Inspector Vajram told Compass. “Besides, Amos used to drink and trouble his wife. This is why the wife and the mother-in-law killed him.”

Charging that the local police had not investigated the attack properly, George wrote to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on August 18 requesting that it ensure justice for Pastor Chinnaswamy and his family.

Lawlessness seems to be the norm for the area, George said. He added that on August 3, in what may or may not have been a related incident, a Communist leader identified as Dhanaraj was found murdered in his banana farm in Thalli area in the same district. He had helped Pastor Chinnaswamy get out of jail and was providing his son with legal help.

Pastor and Son Arrested

On July 18, police had summoned the pastor, who lives in Uddinapalli, to the Uddinapalli police station and asked him to wait in a room – which happened to be a jail cell.

Police then arrested him on false charges of “forced conversion,” George said.

When local Christians learned about the arrest, they contacted Communist Party leaders who were able to secure his release on July 20. In India, communists often find themselves in league with Christians in the fight against Hindu nationalism.

Also on July 18, police picked up the pastor’s son, Luka Perumal, an independent preacher, and put him in a separate cell. Perumal was sent to the Salem jail on July 20.

“The police arrested him as a ‘preventive measure,’ alleging he was involved in some gangs,” George said.

When Pastor Chinnaswamy asked why his son was being held, police replied that he would be released on August 3. He was not released, however, until Monday (August 27).

Earlier Attacks

Two days before police detained Luka Perumal, on July 16, Hindu extremists had damaged his thatched house in Kelamangalam village, Krishnagiri district.

The attacks and police harassment followed the assaults on Pastor Chinnaswamy in April and May. On May 5, eight Hindu extremists broke into Chinnaswamy’s house and assaulted him with a screwdriver, besides threatening to harm his 4-year-old daughter and insulting his wife.

The attackers also took 2,750 rupees (US$67), claiming foreigners had given him that amount to forcibly convert Hindus. Pastor Chinnaswamy had set aside the money to pay his electricity bill.

On April 22, extremists attacked Pastor Chinnaswamy and vandalized his kitchen. “Chinnaswamy did not file a police complaint even once, as he feared that he would be killed if he did so,” George said.

Pastor Chinnaswamy, who has been ministering in the area for 20 years, is also a local civic leader; twice he has been elected as the village head.

In his letter to the NHRC, George appealed for an immediate inquiry “into the targeting of Pastor Paul Chinnaswamy and his family for the only reason that they are Christian believers.”

“It is alarming that, far from dealing with the lawlessness in the region, the police are busy incarcerating peaceful preachers,” George wrote. “They let dangerous criminals roam around unhindered. We appeal for immediate action.”

Regarding increased attacks on Dalits, including Dalit Christians, National Integration Council member John Dayal noted that, “Christ’s message liberates entire caste groups which were in the thrall of the upper castes.”

Pastor Chinnaswamy and all Catholics and Protestants in India, he said, are attacked for the theological position of Christians that Dalits are equals, which “rocks the Hindu boat. This is why even liberal Hindus find fault with conversions.”