Author: Nirmala Carvalho
Publication: Asia News
Date: 14 June, 2005
URL: http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=3506
Maharashtra state authorities expell
eight missionaries guilty of praying. "If they wanted to pray, they should
have applied for a missionary visa, not a tourist visa," a police officer
said.
A group of eight US missionaries
were forced to leave India for violating visa conditions. Three of the
missionaries-who were taking part in a religious ceremony in Malsani, a
Mumbai suburb-were violently attacked on Saturday night by 40, irate people
who mistook the religious gathering for a conversion ceremony.
Jinsi John, who was praying with
the three Americans, said that "they were attacked as they were praying.
Two of them-Craig Allen and Steve-were assaulted in the middle of the road;
one was taken away and dumped by the road some distance away."
"They did not fight back when they
were being beaten up, but kept praying," she added.
Although two missionaries were wounded
in the assault, the police stopped only two of the attackers and later
released them on bail.
John Dayal, President of the All
India Christian Union (AICU), told AsiaNews: "The US government was too
quick to remove India from the list of terrorist countries. The AICU is
going to make an independent enquiry into this grave incident. [. . .]
Anti-Christian violence is escalating in Maharashtra."
On its website, the Catholic Bishops'
Conference of India (CBCI) condemned the attack on a peaceful religious
gathering even if it was held by a neo-Christian group with powerful preachers.
It is very "unfortunate that foreign
nationals are not being treated well in our country, which has a rich tradition
of [welcoming] guests. It is appalling that two US nationals were attacked-these
days any Christian religious assembly is looked upon with suspicion," CBCI
spokesman Babu Joseph Svd said.
After the attack, the police took
the missionaries to the Malwani Foreigner Regional Registration Office
where they were questioned for four hours.
The eight were eventually divided
in two groups-four were deported to the United States on Sunday, June 12;
the others, on the following day.
Speaking to AsiaNews, a senior police
official said: "If they had wanted to come to India to preach, they should
have come on a missionary visa instead of a tourist visa".
