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Bhubaneswar, January 23 (KMS): A Christian pastor in Odisha\u2019s Dhenkanal district was brutally assaulted, publicly humiliated and forced to consume cow dung by a Hindutva mob on allegations of religious conversion.<\/p>\n
According to Kashmir Media Service, the victim, identified as Pastor Bipin Bihari Naik, was attacked in Parjang village \u2014 a predominantly Hindu area with only a handful of Christian families. The pastor, his wife Vandana and others were in a prayer meeting when a mob of 15 to 20 people asked Naik to come outside the house, which he refused, saying he would first complete the prayer.<\/p>\n
Vandana said that the mob then forcibly entered the house and began assaulting all attendees. The Hindutva mob dragged Naik outside, beat him with sticks, smeared red vermilion (sindoor) on his face, and garlanded him with slippers and paraded him through the village in a humiliating spectacle, she said. The mob then tied him to a temple, forced him to eat cow dung, and coerced him into chanting Hindu religious slogans.<\/p>\n
Vandana and other witnesses said they fled to the local police station to seek help during the assault begging the officers to save her husband. \u201cIt was only after nearly two hours that the police reached the village,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The mob had attacked Naik on suspicion of religious conversion, but his wife has firmly rejected the accusation. She also said the police tried to dismiss the incident and even refused to register a complaint.<\/p>\n
Although the attack took place earlier this month under the Parjang police station limits, it came to light recently after police registered a case after repeated appeals by the pastor\u2019s family. Family members and rights activists have criticized the police for their delayed response and inaction.<\/p>\n
The incident has drawn widespread condemnation, with Indian opposition political figures labeling the attack a violation of constitutional rights and a sign of growing intolerance toward religious minorities in India. Congress spokesperson, Dr Syed Naseer Hussain, said in a post on X: \u201cWe unequivocally condemn these acts of violence against minorities, the inhuman treatment inflicted in full public view, and the space granted to fringe elements to hurt, humiliate, and terrorize with impunity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bhubaneswar, January 23 (KMS): A Christian pastor in Odisha\u2019s Dhenkanal district was brutally assaulted, publicly humiliated and forced to consume cow dung by a Hindutva mob on allegations of religious conversion. According to Kashmir Media Service, the victim, identified as Pastor Bipin Bihari Naik, was attacked in Parjang village \u2014 a predominantly Hindu area with …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":193182,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2026\/01\/21-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193181"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":193183,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193181\/revisions\/193183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}