Police assaulted 2 Catholic priests in India alleging conversion.UCA News reported that the complaint by their diocese was delayed for legal consultation as the accused were policemen
Our Lady of Lourdes at Jubo village in Odisha, whose Catholic parish priest and his assistant were assaulted by police last month. A complaint was filed on April 8, 2025.
A diocese in eastern India filed a complaint on April 8 against the police for assaulting two Catholic priests inside their parish, accusing them of converting Hindu villagers.
Father Joshi George, a parish priest in Odisha state’s Berhampur diocese, and his assistant, Father Dayanand Nayak, were assaulted when police raided Jubo village on March 22.
“The police officers simply barged into the parish compound and unleashed lathi blows on the innocent priests,” Bishop Sarat Chandra Nayak of Berhampur told UCA News on April 7.
George said that Dayanand was beaten “so badly on the back that his shoulder blade was fractured.” He sustained injuries to his head.
Dayanand is recuperating in the government-run Berhampur Medical College hospital.
The bishop said their complaint was delayed because they were consulting legal experts, considering that the accused in the case are police in a state where the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governs.
The bishop said a senior police officer led the attack, making “wild accusations” such as "we are foreigners and bring money from the US” for converting the poor.
Nayak said the police also took away 40,000 (some US$500) from the priest's cupboard.
He said police should be held “accountable for their condemnable act,” and added that sectarian “elements are at work here even among the educated police officers.”
He said anti-Christian violence increased in the state after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP, which supports the idea of making India a Hindu nation, came to power in June 2024.
The bishop wanted the policemen to be booked for “attacking people without reason and stealing money."
George said some 300 policemen descended on the village following a raid on a nearby village on the previous night, reportedly searching homes for marijuana cultivators.
“Some policemen entered our church compound and started beating our school girls, who were cleaning the church to prepare for the next day’s Sunday Mass. Three girls came running to my room, shouting for help,” George said.
He and Nayak, came out and introduced themselves to the police. But they started to “beat us with sticks.”
“The police made us walk to the neighboring village, abusing and humiliating us. The residents of that village had already fled to the jungles, fearing the police's wrath,” the priest said.
"The church has nothing to do with illegal activities. We have preached in our homilies multiple times, advising the villagers not to engage in cultivating ganja [marijuana],” George said.
George said that the police accused the priests of being Pakistanis. “You have come here to convert people to Christianity and teach the people wrong things,” a police officer shouted, according to George.
He said they have not converted anyone but only provided education to the poor.
The police brought four men — two Hindus and two Christians — to the Mohana police station, located about 20 kilometers from Jubo village.
The Mohana police station did not answer the phone calls intended to seek their response.
“It was a well-planned attack against the Christians. Of the four taken, two Hindus were freed, and the two Christians were detained,” George said.
Source UCA News
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