“The village gathering threatened to beat us to death if we did not attend the ceremony,” said Raidhar Nag, , 21-years-old Christians who fled Chhingur village, Bastar District in Chhattisgarh state. “They stopped us from fetching water from the village well, obtaining the free government ration or even working in our own fields.”

The mob tracked down the 10 Christians who remained, members of four families, and beat them on two occasions, forcing them to recant and worship their deities in the ceremony on March 10, sources said.

Nag said the village leaders had told the Christians that they would no longer be allowed to live in their houses and must leave the village.

“We fled from the village on the day of the ceremony, everyone in their own direction,” Nag told Morning Star News. “Four Christian families hid themselves in the village itself. The villagers frantically searched for all of us on the day of the ceremony and found the members of the four families. They took them along and forcibly sprinkled some water on them as the tradition and made them worship the tribal deities.”

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