KOLKATA, India: Hindu mobs reportedly attacked Christian prayer services in two separate incidents in India’s West Bengal state on Sunday, abducting and assaulting a pastor and vandalising a Presbyterian house church, UCA News reported.
The incidents took place in West Medinipur and East Medinipur districts as Christian organisations warned of a growing pattern of attacks and intimidation targeting religious gatherings in the eastern Indian state.
Pastor abducted during prayer service
At about 11:00 am on Sunday, around 25 people entered a Christian home in Nandapurya village in West Medinipur district, where Pastor Sukhendu was leading a prayer service attended by Christians from eight neighbouring villages, UCA News reported.
Purna Hembram, a Christian eyewitness, told UCA News on Monday that the group threatened Pastor Sukhendu and forcibly took him away.
Victor Behera, state coordinator of the Bangiya Christiya Pariseba, or Bengal Christian Council, said Sukhendu was taken to a local office of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), where he was abused and tortured, UCA News reported.
Pastor Sukhendu was released late on Sunday after his abductors forced him to sign a written undertaking promising not to visit the villages to conduct prayer services, Behera said.
Behera also said that Sukhendu was forced to say that Christianity was a foreign religion and that Christians should return to Hinduism. He said the statement was recorded on video.
Lawyer Samarjeet Dey is helping the victims file a police complaint, according to Behera.
Presbyterian church vandalised
In a separate incident that same morning, a Hindu mob of about 125 people entered and vandalised a Presbyterian house church in Rangilabasan village in East Medinipur district, UCA News reported.
Chhabi Das, a Presbyterian church member who witnessed the incident, said most members of the congregation had already left after the morning service when the mob entered the house.
The attackers damaged the property being used as a temporary church and broke a cross into four pieces, Das said.
She also alleged that the mob assaulted Tapan Samanta, a Christian in whose home the prayer service was being held.
According to Das, the local police station had routinely been informed in writing before Sunday worship services.
Several local women went to the house after hearing the disturbance and attempted to intervene, she said. The attackers dragged Samanta and some of the women to a local police station, where they were later released.
“Despite continuous assurances from the administration, repeated disruptions and attacks during Sunday prayer services remain deeply alarming,” Herod Mullick, founding secretary of the Bengal Christian Council, told UCA News.
Father Dominic Gomes, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Calcutta, condemned acts of violence, intimidation and desecration of places of worship.
He called on police and district authorities to conduct a prompt and impartial investigation, arrest those responsible regardless of their identity or affiliation, and ensure the safety of the victims and Christian communities.
John Dayal, spokesperson for the All India Catholic Union, said the frequency and intensity of anti-Christian violence in West Bengal had reached an alarming level.
He warned that the state risked joining Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, which he described as among India’s states with the worst records of anti-Christian violence.
Dayal also said the silence of West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and India’s federal home minister had fuelled suspicions among Christians that the violence was supported by senior government officials and the BJP, a Hindu nationalist party.
Repeated incidents of violence against Christians
The latest incidents follow several other attacks on Christian gatherings and religious activities in West Bengal.
On August 14, a burial was disrupted and mourners were assaulted by a mob associated with Hindutva groups at a church in Sahanagar town in Purba Bardhaman district, The Indian Express reported on Saturday.
Father Samuel Hembrom, parish priest-in-charge of St Claret Church, told the newspaper that the mob forced the removal of a woman’s body after it had already been lowered into the grave.
‘They took the body out of the grave’: How mob attacks are silencing Bengal’s Christian prayers
Read: https://t.co/ZckoMj4rcd pic.twitter.com/4tAGjsitol
— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) September 6, 2026
The body was later taken to another cemetery in Bardhaman town, he said.
According to Hembrom, the mob demanded to see documents for the burial ground. Church representatives said they needed time to obtain the papers but the burial was not allowed, he told the newspaper.
Hembrom said he sent a complaint by email to the superintendent of police and the block development officer, but alleged that no action followed.
Purba Bardhaman Superintendent of Police Pushpa told The Indian Express that the woman did not belong to the area.
Other incidents have also been reported in recent weeks.
On August 26, a prayer meeting at a house in Check Milepost village in Purba Medinipur was disrupted and Pastor Joy Sutradhar and his wife were assaulted, The Indian Express reported.
The mob accused Sutradhar of forcibly converting people attending the prayer meeting to Christianity, according to the newspaper.
Sutradhar said members of the Christian community contacted lawyers who came to the police station and helped secure their release. He said the group initially did not file a complaint because of fear, but a police complaint was later submitted by email.
On August 25, an attack was reported at a prayer meeting at a house in Ghusuri in Howrah district.
Father Suraj Saroj of Church of the Grace told The Indian Express that members of the Christian community were beaten and some were injured.
He alleged that police kept the group waiting for hours at the station and questioned them about the church, its funds and credentials.
The group did not file a complaint and has since suspended house prayers and visits in the area, the newspaper reported.
On August 23, a mob entered a rented house in Uluberia town of Howrah district where about 60 people were attending Sunday prayers, saying that forced conversions were taking place, The Indian Express reported.
Pastor Mithun Hazra told the newspaper that the mob entered while chanting slogans, assaulted people attending the prayer meeting and damaged the premises.
