Source:  www.assistnews.net

Date:  September 29, 2007

By James Varghese
Special to ASSIST News Service

MEDAK, ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA (ANS) -- A gospel film team was threatened and their equipment was confiscated in Medak District of Andhra Pradesh state in India.

According to the news story carried on the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) website, (www.persecution.in), the team consisted of four women from Hyderabad, who went to hold screenings of a film called "Karunamayudu" (the Compassionate One), in Telugu on the life of Jesus Christ in the areas of Ganesh Nagar and Siddipet in Medak district which is about two hours by road from Hyderabad, the state capital, on September 25, 2007.

They set up the equipment and stated the screening in an open place and 50 persons gathered to view the film at about 7 pm. After 15 minutes, a team of 15 Hindu radicals gathered, who cut the power off and then broke down the sound system.

The CCIC report said that they advanced threateningly towards the vehicle that was used by the women for transportation, but the team was able to keep the vehicle safe from the attack, even though the radicals confiscated the projector.

The team was led by Mary Grace, and the other women accompanied her were Soujanya, Rani and Srilatha. Pastor Prabhuvardhan of the Believers Church in India and and the driver of the vehicle were with the team.

They filed a report in the One-Town police station. Police arrived on the scene and asked them to leave the place immediately. But as they did not get their expensive equipment back, they first insisted upon its return.

The Police Sub-Inspector Nagaiah of the local police station told them that they would get the projector back. It became very late and so they stayed overnight and went back in the morning to pick up the projector as they were promised, at the time of writing, the group had still not recovered the equipment.

A spokesperson for GCIC said, "Please pray for an early and peaceful end to the stalemate, and for the opportunity for the team to share about the life of Jesus without any opposition."