Fanatics inhumanly attack Pastor and his wife during Sunday Worship Service, Karnataka

On 3/11/19, at 10:30am the Sunday Worship service started as usual. The believers gathered to pray and worship together. An hour later Pastor Tukaram begun leading the believers in prayer, completely unaware of the horrors he was going to encounter. As the Pastor prayed, a group of religious enthusiasts barged into the prayer meeting, disrupting and upsetting the congregation!

They immediately identified the pastor and rushed to him. As they begun to surround him they started questioning him, “What are you doing? Why have you kept all these people in the room? Are you converting them?” etc.

Without giving the already terrified Pastor a chance to speak, one of the men grabbed him by the collar of his shirt while a few others started beating him. They then started dragging him towards the doorway. The believers present tried their best to stop the angry men but they were adamant. Pastor Tukarams wife, Manu who had recently had a baby was panic-struck. Still recovering from child birth, she rushed to help her husband who was being beaten and dragged out, but they inhumanly and unapologetically kicked her in her stomach! She instantly fell to the floor in pain as the kick made a traumatic impact on the almost healed Caesarean surgery.

As shocked onlookers watched the group of angry men beat the Pastor outside the church, the believers got together and pulled him out of their clutches, rescuing him. Satisfied with the damage they had done, the fanatics left, taking along the sound system, keyboard and other musical instruments with them.

The local Pastors namely, Basappa,Johnson and a few others were informed and came hurriedly to Pastor Tukarams aid. They took him and his wife Manu to the Zila Government Hospital where they were examined and later admitted.

As this story is being written, the Pastor and his wife are still ailing in the hospital. that Pastor Tukaram has to undergo a scan. A few parts of his body are still swollen after the attack. His wife, who was hurt was taken to Bargi, a private hospital. An organisation named Persecution Relief priveledged to support this family by helping them cover the cost of her scan and treatment.

Pastor Tukaram S. Chavan serves with Zoe Ministries. He has been ministering in Navanagar, a town in Bagalkot district since the past 3 years. He gathers around 40 believers every Sunday to pray and worship at a premises which he pays a rent of Rs3000 per month.