Jaipur: A group of 20 Christian missionaries from Hyderabad have alleged that they were detained by the police in Jaipur and then beaten inside a police station. They claimed that the incident happened on Thursday afternoon, when they were distributing pamphlets, after running into trouble with some locals.
The missionaries reportedly faced problems with the locals at Jaipur's Mansarowar Colony, and left the area when the locals called the police.
Says Surendra Kumar, one of the missionaries, "We had left the spot, but those people opposed to us followed us till the place where we were staying . There again, they called the police. The police picked us up and took us to the police station. We were made to get out of the police van by being kicked and then, inside the police station, the cops lined us up and hit us with belts on our hands and wrists."
Human Rights groups who have taken up the case say action should have been taken against the local people who harassed the missionaries and not the other way around.
"(RSS chief Mohan) Bhagwat arrives in Rajasthan and makes a statement about Mother Teresa vitiating the minds of ordinary persons. And within 24 hours of that statement, we see here that a group of 20 people who are spreading literature about Christ and talking to people, are not just harassed by Hindutva
waadi elements and picked up by the police as if they are the culprits, but they are also pushed, kicked and beaten inside the thana (police station)," said Kavita Srivastav , general secretary of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).
"Our demand is clear. Suspend the policemen who beat these people and arrested them, and their complaint should be converted into an FIR and investigated ," she added.
The group of 20 missionaries are from the Hebron Church in Hyderabad, and have now left Jaipur.
Police officials NDTV spoke to were unwilling to comment on the incident, but did acknowledge that it had taken place. They said the matter would be investigated.