By Ashutosh Mishra
Bhubaneswar: In yet another glaring instance of growing religious intolerance in Odisha, a pastor was allegedly assaulted by a mob and paraded through the streets of a village with a garland of footwear around his neck. The assault and humiliation of the priest was the result of the mob’s suspicion that he forced people to convert, though the charge is yet to be substantiated.
The incident took place on January 4 in Parjang village under Parjang police station area of Dhenkanal district, about 80 kilometres from the state capital, but it has come to light only now after police detained nine persons in connection with the assault following a written complaint by the pastor’s wife to Dhenkanal superintendent of police Abhinav Sonkar in which she accused the Parjang police of being lethargic in their response despite a formal complaint being submitted by her the same day.
The pastor, Bipin Bihari Nayak, who hails from Bhalumunda village in Dhenkanal, had gone to Parjang on the invitation of one Krushna Naik to conduct a prayer meeting. His wife, Bandana, in her complaint alleged that around 11 am on January 4, while her husband was praying inside Krushna’s house, a group of around 20 young men arrived on motorcycles armed with bamboo sticks and forcibly entered the house.
Bandana said the mob started assaulting her husband with bamboo sticks and fists. He was allegedly kicked repeatedly and his face was smeared with vermillion. Later, he was forcefully paraded on the streets of the village with a garland of footwear around his neck and was made to drink drain water and bow before the temple of a local deity against his wishes, she added.
Bandana alleged that though she submitted a written complaint at the Parjang police station at 11.30 am that day the police took no immediate action which resulted in her husband being brutally assaulted by the mob. The police arrived at the spot only around 1.30 pm by which time the priest had borne the brunt of the mob attack. The attackers, she said, have falsely accused her husband of engaging in forcible conversions.
The priest’s brother Udaynath James alleged that Bipin was made to drink cow dung in the vessel meant for the Lord’s supper. “This is ultimate humiliation for a practising Christian,” he said. The priest was rushed to a hospital in the nearby industrial town of Angul from where he returned the same day after receiving treatment. “He is still suffering from pain in his limbs and there is watery discharge from one of his ears,” said Udaynath.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.