First Muslims, now Hindus: Christians tortured for refusing to turn from God

'When they refused to forsake Christ they began to beat them.'

A group of Christians living in Katholi, India refused to to forsake Christ, prompting Hindu extremists to first beat then torture the men, women and even their children.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to Express, Hindu extremists gathered 29 Christians from their village in an attempt to convert them to Hinduism.

When the Christians refused, the religious extremists got violent.

The Christian families included eight children. The Hindus performed rituals prior to the meeting meant to help encourage the Christians to conform but when that failed the extremists beat them.

Not even the children were spared from the beatings and six people were seriously injured. Of course, the injured were abandoned when the Hindus left, leaving the Christians with no choice but to travel miles before reaching anyone who could help them.

A spokesman with the Christian persecution charity Open Doors explained: "The villagers accused them saying - because of you our god and goddess are fleeing from our village. When they refused to forsake Christ they began to beat them.

"Beating them they drove them towards their houses and threw out their belonging[s]. They also started vandalizing their houses. To save themselves the believers ran away from the village and reported it to the police."

Authorities investigated the incident and discovered destroyed houses and wounded Christians. They ordered the Hindus to stop the attacks and four days later the Christians returned.

Unfortunately, the Christians did not return to the village they expected.

The Open Doors spokesman explained: "The authorities asked them to return and said they would sort it out but they went back and were surrounded. The villagers were making death threats so they were forced to leave again. They had to leave behind a 70-year-old woman and some of the children who couldn't run fast enough."

The spokesman continued, describing the increase of Christian persecution in India and a 34 percent increase in incidents between Hindus and Christians since 2013.

Christians aren't allowed to get certain jobs, have been stopped from purchasing or developing land in certain areas and cities like Delhi has banned the distribution of Christian literature.

Even members of Open Doors have experienced problems.

Any who convert to Christianity are immediately subjected to discrimination and the government, responsible for helping all people in India, continues to turn a blind eye.

In fact, it is against the law to convert to Christianity in five Indian states.

Meenakshi Ganguly, the directer of Human Rights Watch, stated: "It is extremely concerning that these vigilante actions are on the rise. Many of these attackers believe that in attacking religious minorities they are fulfilling the vision of the ruling party and that they will be protected.

"It is important that the prime minister and senior leaders of the BJP (a Hindu nationalist group) unequivocally condemn and discourage these attacks and ensure the perpetrators are prosecuted."

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