Christian missionaries beaten in public for 'converting' Hindus

Mumbai: Hindu hardliners attacked two Christian missionaries in public yesterday, the latest violence against priests accused by right-wing groups of trying to convert Hindus to Christianity.

Television channels showed Hindu activists kicking and punching the two young priests while dragging them through Maharashtra's Kolhapur town.

News footage showed an activist knee one priest in the groin, making him double up in pain. Another kicked the missionary in the head. The crowd accused the priests of forcibly converting poor Hindus, and handed them over to police.

"The point is whether it was forced conversion or not is subject to a police investigation and is not to be judged by a mob," said Dolphy D'Souza, a local Christian leader.

Several states ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party have passed anti-conversion laws and groups linked to the party have repeatedly held that Christian priests bribe poor Hindus to join their flock.