Source: Morning Star News, January 29, 2026
As police looked on, a Hindu nationalist mob in India subjected a pastor to dehumanizing brutality, damaging his hearing and trying to force him to worship a Hindu deity, sources said.
About 15 minutes into his January 4 worship service, about 40 people led by members of the Bajarang Dal, [the] youth wing of the Hindu extremist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), along with cow vigilantes, barged into the house. The self-proclaimed cow vigilantes often take the law into their own hands to protect cows that Hindus consider sacred.
The mob called Pastor Naik out of the house, but when he took time to do so, “they came inside, took me by my collar and dragged me out and immediately started to beat me,” he said.
The full story says they made him walk on thorns, tied him to a Hindu temple, forced him to chant Hindu slogans, and tried to make him drink water mixed with cow dung. He said surviving the ordeal was a miracle, as he was certain he would be killed. The mob later indicated they were upset that he was converting Hindus to Christianity.