NEW DELHI — Two men of traditional tribal religion in central India assaulted a pastor and his family for their Christian faith in an attempt to chase them from their land and home, sources said.

In a village in Chhattisgarh state’s Sukma District, the two men came with a mob to his home, where his church meets, accusing Pastor Motu Sodi of luring villagers from their tribal religion and fraudulently converting them to Christianity. The two men assaulted the pastor, his wife, his non-Christian sister and a niece, he said.

“Even though they came with a huge mob, none of them stepped forward to hit us, except for the two men,” Pastor Sodi told Morning Star News.

The area falls under the Gadiras police station in Korra Gram Panchayat.

Pastor Sodi said he and his family were beaten with thick wooden sticks.

“One of them caught hold of me while the other beat me,” said the pastor, who sustained internal injuries.

The attackers warned, “We won’t let you stay in the village or on your own property. We want to chase you away,” he said.

Pastor Sodi’s wife sustained a head injury and has not received immediate medical attention.

“I cannot put into words, how much blood was oozing out of her head,” he said. “She was drenched in blood.”

After the assault on April 13, the two attackers filed a complaint against Pastor Sodi at the Gadiras police station. Early the next morning, the two men returned, assaulted the family again and disclosed that they had filed a police complaint against them for fraudulent conversion.

Pastor Sodi then went to the police station and filed a counter-complaint against them for assaulting them.

Police registered the complaint as a “scuffle” between Pastor Sodi and the two men “related to a land dispute,” he said, denying that he fought back.

“We told the police that we did not indulge in the assault but that they came and assaulted us brutally and injured us,” said Pastor Sodi.

He said he clearly told the officer that the two men targeted the family because of their faith in Christ, and that they had no argument or dispute over land. Police refused to listen, Pastor Sodi said.

“The officer said, ‘I don’t care; we are going to register a case of assault from both parties, and until we investigate the matter, we will assume the motive behind the scuffle is a land dispute,’” he told Morning Star News.

On April 16, Pastor Sodi questioned police about their failure to carry out simple procedures of providing victims with immediate medical attention, and officers sent a woman constable with his wife to a hospital.

“Because of excessive loss of blood, she is feeling very weak,” he said.

The two men also hit the pastor’s sister, resulting in a severe ear injury.

“My sister’s hearing is impacted,” Pastor Sodi said. “She was my guest and was visiting us, but these people did not spare her either.”

The assailants screamed at his sister while assaulting her, “Don’t support your brother,” he said.

After the tribal men had assaulted Pastor Sodi, his wife and sister, the thick wooden stick broke under the blows. They then turned to his 18-year-old niece, Mangali Madavi.

“The attackers hit Mangali with the broken edge of the wooden stick, and the sharp edge lacerated her cheek just below her eye, inflicting a deep cut,” Pastor Sodi said.

The atmosphere in the village remains tense, he said.

“I heard the voices of two to three men around midnight on April 15, trying to break into my house,” he said, adding that he also reported this to the police.

Officers have instructed the residents not to gather in the village.

“I want justice in accordance with the law. I will neither leave my home and flee, nor will I recant my faith,” Pastor Sodi said, requesting prayers.

Sodi became a follower of Christ more than 15 years ago and began attending a tribal ministry church in Sukma. As it was 19 miles from his village, he started a church in his own home 10 years ago.

“Seven families, about 25 people, from this village attend my church,” he said. “And some miscreants from the village have been targeting each Christian family one after another.”

Some attacks leave the Christians stronger in their faith, but others scare them into recanting, he said.

“They barged into the homes of two Christian families in 2025 and assaulted their members, just like they did with mine,” he said. “One family ended up reaching a compromise with their attackers. Another Christian family was targeted in 2023.”

His family has lived in the same house in the village for four generations, said the pastor, who has four children, the youngest 3 years old.

India ranked 12th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, up from 31st in 2013, before Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power.

The hostile tone of the National Democratic Alliance government, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, against non-Hindus has emboldened Hindu extremists in several parts of the country to attack Christians since Modi took power in May 2014, religious rights advocates say.

This article was originally published at Morning Star News

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