An Onslaught Of Violence Unravels Against The Christian Community In India

Pastor Thomas Poochallil’s burning car outside the Church in the northern Indian state of Punjab on August 31, 2022. (Photo provided by the victim Pastor Thomas Poochallil)

DELHI, India — In the wee hours of August 31, a Church was vandalised, and a pastor’s car was set ablaze in the northern Indian state of Punjab. Parish priest Thomas Poochalil is of the opinion that this was a deliberate attack. 

“Four unidentified men held the security guard at gunpoint and destroyed the Pieta statue in the Church,” and “they then carried the decapitated idols of Virgin Mary and Jesus along with them.”