Tuesday, November 15, 2005

OM team attacked in Maharashtra

From our correspondent

A media team working with Operation Mobilisation India (OM) was attacked in Pune, Maharashtra on 10 November 2005.

OM's Media team along with another Christian organisation MUST organised the screening of an Indian version of Jesus film "Dayasagar" on the night of 10 November 2005 at Kothrud, 20 km from Pune. There were around 250 people to watch the film.

After the film show, the four team members were returning home around 9.30. While waiting for a bus, they were surrounded by half-a-dozen youth, enquiring about their whereabouts. While the team members were explaining to them, a mob of over 25 people belonging to the Siva Sena joined them. Besides abusing them in foul language, they manhandled the team members, hitting them on their faces.

Later they dragged them to police station and complained that the team was involved in forceful conversions of Hindu families to Christianity. They also brought a false witness who testified before the police that the team had asked him to leave Hinduism and become a Christian, promising handsome rewards. The mob also damaged the film equipment costing more than Rs 100,000.

Later the police inspector called OM leader Deepak on his mobile on the pretext that one of his team members had met with an accident and asked him to rush to the police station. Upon arriving at the police station, the mob surrounded him and beat him up severely. Thereafter the police took the team into the station office and confiscated their ID cards and film equipment. The police also beat up the team members, resulting in serious injuries to one of them.

Around midnight Deepak rang up AICC state leader Dr Abraham Mathai, who is also former Chairman of the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission. On his intervention, the police released the team after filing a false case of using the loudspeaker in the public place without prior approval from the police.

The AICC chapter of Maharashtra is in the process of filing a case against Siva Sena activists and the police officers.

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