motive

CHRISTIAN BREAKING NEWS: Christian Woman Killed with Axe Blows and Stones in Chhattisgarh, India | No Right to Land Because of Her New Faith

A tribal religion leader in India killed his 32-year-old niece with axe blows and stones last week, alleging she and her relatives had no right to ancestral farmland because they had converted to Christianity, according to sources.

Bindu Sodi of Toylanka village, Kotewarpara in Dantewada District, Chhattisgarh state, was the main breadwinner for her mother, sister, younger brother, his wife, and their 2-year-old child.

The surviving relatives are unable to return home owing to death threats.

Bindu Sodi of Toylanka village, Kotewarpara in Dantewada District, Chhattisgarh state had been the sole breadwinner for her mother, sister, younger brother, his wife and their 2-year-old child. The surviving relatives cannot return home due to death threats.

According to Pastor Telam, the revenue department officer summoned Chetu Sodi, but he refused to appear.

The officer then directed the village registrar to visit Chetu Sodi’s home to investigate the claim and determine the rightful owner.

Bindu’s younger sister, Aarti Mandavi, stated that the registrar was opposed by Chetu Sodi.

“Uncle told the registrar that because we have all become Christians, we have no right over the ancestral property, and therefore he refused to sign the papers the registrar was carrying.”

– Mandavi, a Christian, has been living with Bindu for the past year

According to Mandavi, the revenue officer issued a notice to Chetu Sodi to appear at the collectorate office or face legal action for non-compliance.

“But it was all too late,” said Pastor Telam, adding that Chetu Sodi and his son moved ahead and developed another section of Bhima Sodi’s land.

“Bhima and the entire family were very disturbed at the way things were going. Bhima had no job; he took care of the farmland. They were not sure how long the revenue department proceedings would take.”

– Pastor Telam

On the evening of June 24, Bhima Sodi, his wife Tulsi, Bindu Sodi, and her mother planned to cultivate the last section of their land before the uncle took it over, according to Pastor Telam.

Someone noticed them working their land and called Chetu Sodi, who arrived shortly with his son.

Bindu Sodi used her mobile phone to video her uncle scooping up stones and charging at them.

Bhima Sodi and his mother sped away from the field on the tractor, while Bindu and Tulsi Sodi fled on foot.

“While running, Bindu toppled over something and fell The mobile got thrown at a distance, and Tulsi turned and picked up the phone and approached to help Bindu, but the uncle and his son reached Bindu and began to assault her.”

– Mandavi informed Morning Star News

Tulsi Sodi dashed to give the phone to Bhima Sodi, who contacted the cops.

However, the station chief stated that it was getting dark and that they would arrive the following morning, according to Mandavi.

“Bhima called a Tribal Christian Forum, and their head in turn called the police station in-charge and insisted on them to go, explaining that the matter was serious.”

– Pastor Telam

By the time police arrived with an ambulance, Mandavi said, “the field was wet with Bindu’s blood.”

According to witnesses, Chetu Sodi and his son assaulted Bindu Sodi, attacking her with stones and an axe, as well as beating and kicking her.

Mandavi stated that he and his son eft her half-dead and set out to find Bhima Sodi and his mother.

“Bhima and mother hid themselves in someone’s house to save their lives. When Uncle couldn’t find them, they went back and once again started to assault Bindu until she was dead.”

– Mandavi

Mandavi expressed disbelief at the brutality of the assault, which left Bindu Sodi with wounds to her face, head, and neck.

Police transported her body to Dantewada for a postmortem, where the family was also taken.

The following day, authorities arrested Chetu Sodi.

On June 29, officers arrested his son, Kumma Sodi.

Chetu Sodi and Kumma Sodi have been charged with murder (Section 302) and criminal acts committed by multiple people with the same intent (Section 34) by police.

A human rights activist in Delhi who requested anonymity said he called police on June 26 and learned about the FIR, but when he mentioned that there was opposition to Bindu Sodi’s Christian faith, “the officer responded by saying that the accused and victim are from the same family and they had a dispute over the land.”

Pastor Telam denied the police’s story, asking that if the intentions were simply a family land dispute,

“why did the police not allow us to bury Bindu in the village?” Why did they seek to avoid sectarian tension by allowing her Christian burial within the village? There is no dubiousness about the Christian persecution motive underlying the crime.”

Following the burial on June 26, Pastor Telam informed Morning Star News that police urged the family to bury Bindu’s body 19 miles from her native village.

He further said that cops threatened him with arrest for protesting to the police’s unwillingness to meet the family’s desires for a village burial.

Mandavi stated that Bhima Sodi and his family continue to get death threats from the locals, who were unified in their determination to protect Kumma Sodi from imprisonment.

Before Kumma Sodi was caught, people threatened to kill another member of the family if cops pursued him, she added.

According to the pastor, Bindu Sodi was the family’s only money earner.

Mandavi stated that her sister took over caring for the family when their father died and “never married, because she had to feed so many members.”

Bindu Sodi had taken a job as a teacher at the village’s government-sponsored child and mother care center under the Integrated Child Development Scheme.

She was the first person from Toylanka village to receive Christ, according to Pastor Telam.

“It is because of her evangelism that eight more families in that village came to Christ. She was a great evangelist of our church.”

– Pastor Telam

NEWS SOURCE & LINKS:
Morning Star News

CHRISTIAN WOMAN KILLED WITH AXE BLOWS AND STONES in Chhattisgarh, India | No Right to Land… | Christian Breaking News!