Attack on priests — Police register case against Bajrang Dal leader

Jain, who met David and Simon around midnight at Himmatnagar, where they were shifted for treatment yesterday, said the two were unable to identify the rest of the people in the group. Nor were they in a position to state the exact number of assailants, which is estimated to be around a dozen.

The attack left the other priest, 52-year-old David Masih with a fractured arm, and Simon, 30, with minor injuries. They were later abandoned on the Parosvada highway where they were admitted to the Vijaynagar hospital in Surendranagar district.

Giving details, the DIG said the group came to Jair in two jeeps, while David and Simon had earlier come to the village with a film projector. He said the men in two jeeps abducted the duo while they were screening a film on Christianity at Solanki’s house.

The attackers pushed them into a jeep, halted at a deserted place near Vijaynagar in Gujarat, beat them up and abandoned them. From there, the duo managed to reach a hospital at Vijaynagar, where they sought medical aid. They were later shifted to Himmatnagar as it had better medical facilities.

Jain said neither of the two were missionaries though both were involved in spreading Christianity. While Simon was a teacher, originally hailing from Kerala and presently based at Himmatnagar, David, earlier known as Chuni Lal, earned his bread by selling religious literature.

Meanwhile, Udaipur’s District Collector, the Additional DGP, and several senior officials visited the victims and ordered a probe into the incident.

Jair, a remote village, inhabited by about 100 families, is located in a hilly area, about 60 km from the Panarwa police station. A few families of the village have recently converted to Christianity.

Meanwhile, the All-India Christian Council today urged the President to direct the authorities concerned to take immediate steps to arrest those responsible for the attack on two Christians priests from Gujarat in neighbouring Rajasthan’s Udaipur district on Thursday night.

In a letter to the President, AICC executive member Samson Christian urged him to initiate steps to ban the RSS, the Bajrang Dal, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other fundamentalist organisations “carrying on a vilification campaign” against the Christian community.

He also asked the President to instruct the government to initiate steps to protect the minority communities failing which they would be forced to resort to an agitation.

Both priests, hailing from Gujarat’s Himmatnagar district, said they had gone to Solanki’s house for a prayer meeting at Solanki’s house in Jair village. Their meeting was interrupted mid-way by a group of heavily armed persons, who humiliated them before taking them away, they said. The victims claimed that the group was led by Khedbhrama district Bajrang Dal president, Jagdish Taral, Christian has said in the letter.