On April 5, 2021, Pastor Sanjay Bhandari, a pastor from India’s Karnataka state, sustained multiple contusions and internal injuries from an aggravated assault by 60 radical Hindu nationalists, reports International Christian Concern.
He said, “I was tortured for following my Christian faith. There was absolutely no other reason for them to drag me out of my relative’s home and beat me mercilessly. As a result, even today, I am not able to hear anything out of my left ear due to the injury I sustained in the attack.”
The mob falsely accused Pastor Bhandari of illegally converting Hindus to Christianity; a narrative often used to justify violence against Christians.
On April 8, the Madras High Court said, “allowing religious intolerance is not good for a secular country.” The Supreme Court ruled, a day later, that adults over the age of 18 are free to choose their religious identity.
Sadly, a month and a half after the attack on Pastor Bhandari and that Supreme Court ruling, the police have not taken action against those who tortured him. Religious freedom in India appears to only exist in its courtrooms, not the homes of citizens.
In Isaiah 13:11, God says, “I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity.”
