The beating Pastor Bandoni endured put him in the hospital for two days. |
Gospel for Asia-supported missionary Bandoni Masih is now at home recovering from a vicious assault against him two weeks ago. Meanwhile, his attackers—some of them relatives of the police—are negotiating with the officers to let them off easy. It appears they are succeeding.
"In a nutshell, the police are also siding with the extremist group," GFA's correspondent wrote.
On May 25, Bandoni and another Christian, Naren Dandi, were riding their bikes home from a prayer meeting they had held in another village. Suddenly 12 anti-Christian extremists driving a jeep stopped and surrounded the two Christians. They shouted accusations and began beating them severely.
When the mob was satisfied, they left the pastor lying on the road, bleeding.Naren somehow escaped and rushed to the nearest police station to get help. But the extremists beat Pastor Bandoni for nearly an hour. They deeply wounded his leg with iron rods, and Bandoni's battered face swelled so that he couldn't see. When the mob was satisfied, they left the pastor lying on the road, bleeding.
Somehow, Bandoni dragged himself to the village where he had conducted the prayer meeting. Some believers there helped him get to the police station.
The police filed a case against the 12 attackers, who even gave the believers trouble in the station while the case was being filed.
Bandoni was taken to a hospital, where he was treated for two days. At first, he could not even swallow water because of the injuries to his face. When he was able to walk again, he went home and continued to recover.
The attackers, never taken into custody, were mildly interrogated by the police. As several of the attackers are related to police officers, they have been trying to negotiate their way out of any legal action against them.
Bandoni, Naren and the other believers in their area need prayer for safety and to be an example of God's love during this hard time.