In June 2004, Pastor Ake Green was convicted of spreading hatred against homosexuals as a result of a June 2003 sermon. This conviction was overturned on appeal, but the prosecutor appealed to the Supreme Court. Green appeared before the court on November 9. The Court heard a recording of his sermon to determine whether it violated the country's hate propaganda laws. A ruling will be made at a later date yet to be announced. For more details on this story, click here.
(Source: Evangelical Fellowship of Canada)
On the evening of November 10, following a showing of the "Jesus" film in Kothrud, near Pune in Maharashtra State, a team from Operation Mobilisation was attacked by more than twenty-five members of the militant Hindu group Siva Sena. The mob beat the four Christians and caused over Rs 100,000 ($2,600 CDN) damage to their film equipment. The team members were then dragged to the police station where a false witness told the police that the team had tried to bribe him to leave Hinduism and become a Christian. The police reportedly abused the OM team members while in detention and confiscated their identity cards and film equipment. One of the team members named Madan received serious injuries to his jaw.
In the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, more than sixty new believers are being threatened with death if they refuse to return to Hinduism. On November 4, Pastor Feroz Masih was traveling to a nearby village when he was stopped by approximately ten members of the World Hindu Council (Vishwa Hindu Parishad or VHP) and its youth wing Bajrang Dal. They accused him of being involved in the forced conversion of Hindus. According to a November 14 report from Compass Direct, Ramesh was then severely beaten and suffered serious internal injuries. He was forced to sign a statement that he was willing to reconvert to Hinduism. The VHP members then said they would be coming to his home on November 20 to conduct a puja (reconversion ritual) for Masih and the sixty members of his church. Those who refuse will be burned to death.