Three Indians Christians were attacked by a mob for supposedly trying to convert the local Hindus. The incident occurred in Khargar and Taloja in Navi Mumbai, where 45-year-old pastor, Prashant Bhatnagar, and two other members of his church, were distributing Christian literature.
The mob attacked the three Christians both verbally and physically. According to a report on The Times of India, one of the three victims was admitted to a hospital after he sustained severe injuries on account of being kicked and punched.
The pastor, meanwhile, was forcefully dragged over to a prison site where he was threatened with a revolver, as the mob warned him that if he was found distributing Christian pamphlets again, they would set him on fire. Christian Daily reveals that one of the men proceeded so far as to urinate on Pastor Bhatnagar, who was already badly beaten by the aggressors.
Unconscious, he was left on the street where a passersby noticed the beaten man and took him to a hospital. Reacting to the incident, Maharashtra's former Minorities Commission vice-chairman Abraham Mathai strongly opined that the authorities needed to trace and arrest those involved in this violent act.
"This is a grave criminal act to assault a peaceful group so badly and to threaten them with a gun. The police must book and arrest all the culprits in this case," he stated.
Pastor Bhatnagar spoke up in an interview with Urdu Daily, and revealed that the mob was led by someone named Gurunath, who heads Shri Ram Pratishthan.
According to the pastor, Gurunath accused him of converting the local vegetable vendors to Christianity, and when two members of the pastor's church came forward in his support, Gurunath and his following mob turned violent.