Source: Compass Direct News
June 12 (Compass Direct News) – A mob of Hindu extremists on Friday (June 8) beat a pastor and tried to set him on fire before parading him naked in the suburbs of Bangalore, capital of Karnataka state. Some 150 people allegedly led by Hindu extremists cornered independent pastor Laxmi Narayan Gowda in a room in his house and began assaulting him in front of his wife and two small children. The incident took place in Hessarghatta, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Bangalore. One of the assailants threw kerosene on the pastor, and another tossed a burning Bible onto him, but miraculously he did not catch fire, said Sam Joseph, a Karnataka-based leader of the All India Christian Council. The extremists then stripped the pastor naked and hung a board around his neck that said, “I am the one who was converting people,” before parading him through the area. “By this time, the mob had swollen to about 1,000, as more people joined in to harass and torture the pastor,” Joseph added. The pastor was recovering in a hospital at press time.