Pastor Bipin Bihari Naik and his flock had only just gathered for Sunday prayers inside a house in India’s eastern state of Odisha, when a dozen men barged in carrying sticks, dragged him out, and started to beat him as his wife and children watched in horror.
On 4 January, Naik says he was dragged barefoot through his village in Dhenkanal district, beaten with sticks, and threatened with death by a mob that accused him of carrying out religious conversions – an allegation that has been used repeatedly by the Hindu right-wing to target India’s Christian minority.
