Madhya Pradesh: Three Arrested for Vandalising Church in Narmadapuram

Apart from the vandalism, two of the accused were also involved in burning the Bible in a separate incident, the police said.

New Delhi: The Madhya Pradesh police on Tuesday, February 14, arrested three persons accused of vandalising a church in Narmadapuram district. A day earlier, viral videos on social media showed that names of Hindu Gods were inscribed on the walls inside the church, parts of which were set on fire by the accused. Taking cognisance of the second such incident in the area, the police acted swiftly to arrest the trio.

According to Gurkaran Singh, the Narmadapuram Superintendent of Police (SP), in the recent case of vandalism of a Church in Chaukipura area of Itarsi region, Avneesh Pandey – an MBA graduate – carried out the first attack alone, where he set the Bible ablaze outside a church. He is said to have been accompanied by his 28-year-old neighbour, Shivarai, an electrician with the Indian Railways, for the second attack – when the church was vandalised.

The police officer said that the “mastermind” of the attacks was Akash Tiwari, who hails from Jhansi. Tiwari sent locations of dargahs (Islamic shrines) and churches to Pandey, who hails from Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh, to target. Pandey moved to the Itarsi region for his apprenticeship in the railways, which ended in December 2022. He was presently working in a car showroom in Bhopal, Singh said. Tiwari paid Pandey Rs 5,000 for burning a Bible outside the church and another Rs 15,000 for the vandalism which came to light this weekend.

On Sunday, when the local Christian community had gathered for the weekly prayer meet at the church, they found that the window of the hall was broken. Curtains, carpets and furniture – including chairs and tables – were charred and the name of the Hindu deity Ram was inscribed on the walls of the church, which is affiliated to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the US.

While the exact motive behind the attacks remains uncertain, Singh said the accused felt they had “do something for their religion”. He said that the accused had plans to carry out more attacks in Narmadapuram district headquarters and Bhopal over the next few months.

An FIR under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including for defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion and mischief by fire or explosive substance has been registered against the three people. Tiwari was detained in Uttar Pradesh and is being brought to Narmadapuram, while Shivarai and Pandey will be presented in court on Tuesday, Singh told The Wire. Asked if the accused were affiliated to any group, the SP replied in the negative and said that they are “fringe elements”.

Also Read: The Bogey of ‘Forced Conversions’ Has Long Diverted Us from the Realities of Indian Christians

The attacks against Christians have been on the rise, with various Hindutva groups accusing them of religious conversions. Last month, in the neighbouring state of Chhattisgarh, during a protest over alleged religious conversion in the tribal-dominated region, a church on the grounds of a private school in Narayanpur city was attacked. Eleven people were arrested, including the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Narayanpur district unit, for their alleged role in the violence and attack on Narayanpur SP Sadanand Kumar and five other police officers who were trying to disperse the crowd.

President of the United Christian Forum Michael Williams, speaking to The Wire about the rising cases of violence against Christians said, “Madhya Pradesh has become a central lab for all the anti-Christians activities.” He recalled the attack on St Joseph’s School in Ganj Basoda in Madhya Pradesh in December 2021, where a mob of over 300 people belonging to Hindu nationalist groups – including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal – started throwing stones at the glass window at the entrance of the school and shouted slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram”. They alleged that the school was involved in religious conversions, continuing the attack even as students were taking their Class XII examinations.

“The unemployed youth of villages are being empowered to think that if you tie a saffron ribbon on your head and drive a motorcycle, you can beat up anybody as nobody is going to say anything to you,” he added. Williams refuted the allegations of religious conversions, adding that it was an excuse to target and attack the Christians to polarise the public ahead of assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh later this year.