Man tonsured, paraded on donkey for ‘forcefully converting’ Hindus to Christianity

In a bizarre incident, members of the extremist Hindu group Bajrang Dal kidnapped and tortured a Christian man in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh for allegedly converting Hindus to his own faith. The mob shaved off the man’s hair and eyebrows and paraded him through the town, last week.

The crowd accused Awdhesh Kumar Savita of luring Hindus on the pretext of attending a satsang, a Hindu prayer meeting, where they were allegedly forced to consume beef and made to walk on pictures of Hindu gods and goddesses to prove their conversion to Christianity.

The victim was eventually rescued when local police superintendent N. Kolanchi reached the spot of the incident in Jalaun District of the state. In a statement to local media, Kolanchi reportedly said that five assailants were arrested, along with a barber who had been hired to shave Awadhesh’s head.

Awadhesh denied that he had forced anyone to convert to Christianity and filed an official complaint against some 25 Bajrang Dal members and 200 unidentified people, who witnessed a torture.

“I have been practicing Christianity for the last few years. But I have never insisted on converting anybody,” the 35-year-old was quoted as having told the police.