A senior police officer sustained head injuries and a few others were injured while they were trying to disperse a mob which vandalized a church in Narayanpur district in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh in central India on Jan 2.
Superintendent of Police Sadanand Kumar who was leading the police team that tried to quell the violence was attacked from behind leaving him with head injuries, the Times of India reported quoting state Home minister Tamraswaj Sahu.
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Sahu said a group of local tribals had gone to attack a church in Narayanpur on Monday. Alerted of the situation turning volatile, the police force reached the spot. SP Kumar was rushed to hospital for treatment. His condition is said to be stable while 10 other policemen were injured in the violence.
Addressing the media, Narayanpur district collector Ajit Vasant said: “A few members of an Adivasi (tribal) group turned violent in what was supposed to be a peaceful demonstration against a church. We intervened and tried to calm them down.”
Several Christians had submitted memorandum to the district authorities alleging attacks for converting to Christianity. They said there were widespread attacks and Christians were evicted from their homes.
Sukhman Potai, president of the Narayanpur Christian Society, said the protesters demanded registration of criminal cases against those who unleashed violence against Christians. They alleged that the authorities did not take any concrete steps to quell violence and were instead trying to downplay the incidents, a report in TOI said.
Christians said they submitted a memorandum to the district collector in which they said they were discriminated against, attacked and chased out of their homes on the basis of religion. A series of similar incidents had taken place in the area since December 16, they said.
