INDIA: “Blessed are the Persecuted”

On 10 October 2009, 20-year-old Alka* left the one-room thatch hut she shared with her grandmother and hurried to the town market to call the doctor. Her grandmother, a Pentecostal minister and Alka's only living relative, was ill. After being assured help was on the way, Alka turned to walk back home and was suddenly grabbed by 24-year-old Varad. Alka and Varad had grown up in the same village. He and other villagers had taunted Alka and her grandmother for being Christians, but Varad had recently been kind to her. 'He would come up to me and tell me that I was very nice,' Alka said. 'He would tell me, 'I love you. I want to marry you.'' Alka did not want to marry a Hindu so she had refused his proposal. Alka said Varad grabbed her, covered her mouth with his hands and dragged her into the ruins of an old elementary school where he raped her.

Alka still finds it difficult to talk about what happened and she still struggles to forgive her attacker. Her grandmother, 63-year-old Sharma said, 'They targeted her because of me. They do not like me, that I preach the Gospel. They thought that if they hurt my granddaughter that I would move away and take my ministry somewhere else.' Instead of leaving, Sharma dug in. She took her granddaughter's case to the police, who at first ignored her. The family of the Hindu man offered her thousands of rupees to drop the case. When she refused, the villagers locked Sharma and Alka inside their small church for five days without food or water.

Justice is proving more and more elusive to Christians persecuted by Hindus in India. Though India is known as the world's largest democracy, freedom to worship the Lord Jesus Christ is eroding. Believers are suffering attacks, torture and kidnapping at the hands of Hindu radicals; Indian pastors are specifically targeted. In 2009, the country averaged more than three attacks on Christians a week.
[view story]