A Christian family was allegedly attacked at their home in West Arjunda village, Panskura, East Midnapore district of West Bengal, on the evening of October 26, Monday. An FIR was registered in connection with the case on October 28, Wednesday at Panskura police station.
Parvati Hembram Soren (27) alleged that a mob of around 30 people, including members of their extended family, neighbours and others who associated themselves with the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), assaulted her, desecrated Bibles present in their home and threatened them to renounce Christianity and accept Hinduism.
Some of the accused named in the FIR include extended family members of Parvati and her husband, Santu Soren, namely Gorachand Soren, Balaram Soren, Sombari Soren, Mamani Soren, Arati Soren, Arjun Soren, Logen Hansda, Geeta Soren, Kanka Soren and Nera Bou.
Parvati, Santu, and his uncle and aunt had embraced Christianity over a year ago and is associated with Christ the King Mission Church under the Balichak Catholic Parish. Parvati’s sister-in-law had also embraced the faith, but since she is a minor, her conversion certificate has not yet been published.
The alleged assault comes within days of a family in Patlapur village, Paschim Midnapur district, being allegedly subjected to three days of physical assault, sexual harassment, and continuous intimidation by a group of men who identified themselves as belonging to the Hindutva outfit Bajrang Dal.
ALSO READ: Christian families in Bengal attacked, allege ‘rape and death’ threats by ‘Bajrang Dal’ members
‘Dragged, Slapped, Kicked, Clothes Torn’
Speaking to Alt News, Parvati recounted that on Monday evening, she was praying with her husband and their two children while playing Christian religious songs and carols on a speaker. At around 7:30 pm, a group of approximately 30 people allegedly barged into their home. “Initially, they verbally abused us, snatched our Bible and threw it away. Then, they locked my family members in a room and beat me. They slapped, kicked and punched me,” she alleged.
Hearing her screams, Parvati’s other family members tried to intervene but were unable to protect her because of the sheer number of people attacking her, she added.
Further, the attackers allegedly attempted to tear up the Bible and set it on fire. When Parvati tried to stop them, they allegedly grabbed her by the hair, dragged her out of her house and assaulted her again. “Sombari, Mamani, Arati, and Geeta grabbed me by my hair and dragged me out of the house. They also tore of my clothes,” Parvati alleged.
“I have endured several injuries due to this physical assault and have immense pain in my body. Even my sister-in-law was beaten,” she alleged, adding that her husband was spared the physical assault because he was holding one of their children, she said, although he was verbally abused. The assault continued for approximately an hour, after which Parvati became unconscious.
Parvati underwent medical tests at 10:36 pm on Monday. The following morning, October 27, she went to Panskura police station to lodge an FIR. “The police took my written complaint and said that they would do a preliminary investigation and then lodge an FIR,” she said.
Parvati further alleged that her sister-in-law was recording the incident, but the attackers quickly snatched the latter’s phone, deleted the videos and photographs, before throwing the phone to the ground and damaging it. “Later they took all four Bibles from my house, destroyed them and threw them into a nearby pond. The mob also tried to break open my aged uncle-in-law’s home, located next to our house,” she added.
‘Death Threats, Social & Economic Boycott’
Moreover, Parvati told Alt News that the attackers repeatedly demanded that the family renounce their faith in Christianity and return to Hinduism. They allegedly threatened to wreak havoc in their home, harm or kill family members, and impose a social and economic boycott if they refused to comply.
While Santu works as a toto driver, Parvati works on the farmlands. Their neighbours, who were also part of the assault, have allegedly forced them to plant Tulsi and Manasa plants in their courtyard and perform Hindu rituals. “To continue harassing us, they have tied two cows in our courtyard, and the cows keep littering near our water tap,” she claimed. Additionally, the neighbours are allegedly constructing barriers along the local pond’s bank to prevent Parvati’s family from using the pond water.
During the incident, the family managed to contact a local volunteer of Bangiya Christiya Pariseba (BCP) in Monirampur, who alerted the organisation’s legal team. Subsequently, advocate Aditya Tewary contacted Parvati.
However, the lawyer told Alt News that a man answered the phone after the attackers allegedly snatched it away from Parvati. “I called Parvati, but a man answered the phone, who said he was from Vishva Hindu Parishad. He told me, ‘We are here to set things right. We have received information about Christian conversion here’. As soon as I told him I’m an advocate, he disconnected the call,” Tewary said.
Not An Isolated Incident
This is not the first time that the Soren family was allegedly harassed and intimidated for practising Christianity. On October 11 around 6 pm, members identifying themselves as belonging to Bajrang Dal, along with their extended family members, arrived at their home and demanded that they renounce their faith in Christianity and return to Hinduism, Parvati told us, adding that she had then filed a complaint via email on October 12.
Even then, she named members of her extended family in the complaint as she did not know the names of the Bajrang Dal men. However, no action was initiated by the police.
Police Inaction
“When we were trying to call the police [on Monday], they told us that they [the assailants] would call the police themselves,” Parvati said.
However, she alleged that the police did not reprimand the assailants and instead schooled her and her family. “Instead, shockingly, the police told us to perform and practice our religious rituals inside our house and asked us not to use a speaker, claiming it to be an attempt to convert others,” she said. “Our Hindu neighbours keep playing religious songs on loudspeakers. We have never complained. How can playing songs on a small bluetooth speaker convert others?”
Upon being contacted, Panskura police told Alt News that they do not have the authority to brief us on any case and asked us to contact the headquarters. We then contacted East Midnapore Superintent of Police (SP) and Additional SP, but the phone went unanswered.
The FIR has been lodged under Sections 115(2), 3(5), 303(2), 324(4), 329(4), 351(2) and 76 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, pertaining to voluntarily causing hurt, common intention, theft, mischief, house-trespass, criminal intimidation, and assault or use of criminal force against a woman with intent to disrobe her, respectively. Despite the two complaints, no arrests have been made yet.
‘Don’t Give Them Loan’
Meanwhile, Parvati told Alt News that the harassment continued on Wednesday when a representative from a loan agency visited her home to process an application submitted by her and her husband. According to Parvati, her extended family surrounded the representative and allegedly pressured him not to process the loan because the couple had converted to Christianity.
“We bought a toto, but now we do not have enough money to pay the remaining instalments. That is why we had applied for a loan. Today, a person from the loan office visited my house. When he was leaving, my attackers surrounded him and asked him not to give us a loan, because we are not Hindus. If the police do not lodge an FIR and protect my family and me from this daily harassment, then we have to commit suicide,” she said, adding that even though she demanded police protection, her demand went unheeded.
This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Ankita Mahalanobish.