Bajrang Dal leader arrested for disrupting medical camp
October 31, 2011 by admin
Filed under India, newsletter-india, Persecution, Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh, October 28, 2011: Police have arrested the leader of a Hindu radical group for inciting a mob to attack a medical camp a Church-based NGO organized near Agra.
Reverend Prabhat Kashyap of Sparsh Sewa Samiti (society for touch service), who organized the October 25 event, said around 150 people came to the camp shouting anti-Christian slogans.
They accused the medical team of converting people under the garb of medical treatment.
The mob led by leaders of the Bajrang Dal asked for the permission letter for the medical camp. When Reverend Kashyap showed a copy, Digvijay Tiwari, one of the leaders, wanted one copy for himself.
The Church leader refused to oblige since Tiwari did not represent any government authority. An angered Tiwari went back and returned an hour later with more people.
The mob broke the tent structure, overturned chairs and tables and started manhandling people. The medical team ran to the roof to escape to adjacent building, but the mob chased and stopped them.
The mob thrashed Reverend Charles Gola, who coordinated the medical team. The intruders tried to bring the team members to the rooms but they refused, Reverend Kashyap narrated.
However, the mob forcibly brought Reverend Kashyap down and accused him of being the kingpin of a conversion racket. They also thrashed and abused him
Meanwhile, the medical team managed to escape with the help of local volunteers, who had overhead the mob planning to burn down the building.
The mob took Reverend Kashyap to nearby Shahganj police station where the activists pressed the police to jail the Church leader.
Reverend Kashyap showed the police a letter from the Chief Medical Officer of Agra permitting him to conduct the medical camp. The Church leader then filed a complaint against the mob.
The police have arrested Tiwari and jailed, but released him later on bail.
The Church team had already submitted copies of the permission to the District Magistrate and the Senior Superintendent of Police.
– ucan