Christianity has been a presence in India since the days of St. Thomas the Apostle. The Indian Orthodox Church, or Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church, severed communion with the Church of Constantinople in 451, over the definition of the natures of Christ at the Fourth Ecumenical Council, the Council of Chalcedon.
“Relatives Kill Christian Woman with Axe Blows, Stones in India,” Morning Star News, July 4, 2024:
NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – A tribal religion villager in India killed his 32-year-old niece with axe blows and stones last week, claiming she and her relatives had no right to ancestral farmland because they had become Christians, sources said. 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. Two weeks before the killing, Bindu Sodi’s uncle, Chetu Sodi, and his son Kumma Sodi intruded onto land belonging to her younger brother, Bhima Sodi, sowing seeds on one-third of the parcel. When Bhima Sodi submitted a complaint about the land takeover to Katekalyan police on the advice of the Christians’ pastor, Sudru Ram Telam, the station chief told him that he must go to the revenue department and the village registrar to resolve the issue, the pastor said. The revenue department officer summoned Chetu Sodi, but he refused, Pastor Telam said. The officer then ordered the village registrar to visit Chetu Sodi’s house to check the claim and determine the rightful owner. Bindu’s younger sister, Aarti Mandavi, said that the registrar faced opposition from 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,” said Mandavi, a Christian who had lived with Bindu the past year. The revenue officer ordered a notice to be served to Chetu Sodi to go to the collectorate office or else face action for non-compliance, Mandavi said. “But it was all too late,” said Pastor Telam, saying Chetu Sodi and his son went ahead and cultivated another portion 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.” On the evening of June 24, Bhima Sodi, his wife Tulsi, Bindu Sodi and her mother decided to cultivate the only portion of their land that was remaining before the uncle took it over as well, Pastor Telam said. Someone saw them working their land and informed Chetu Sodi, who quickly arrived with his son. With her mobile phone, Bindu Sodi recorded her uncle picking up stones and charging at them. Bhima Sodi and his mother hastily drove away from the field on the tractor, while Bindu Sodi and Tulsi Sodi fled on foot. “While running, Bindu toppled over something and fell,” Mandavi told Morning Star News. “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.” Tulsi Sodi ran to hand the phone to Bhima Sodi, who called police. The station chief, however, said that it was getting dark and that they would come only the next morning, Mandavi said. “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 said. By the time police arrived with an ambulance, Mandavi said, “the field was wet with Bindu’s blood.” Chetu Sodi and his son assaulted Bindu Sodi, striking her with stones and an axe besides beating and kicking her, witnesses said. He and his son left her half dead and began to go after Bhima Sodi and his mother, Mandavi said. “Bhima and mother hid themselves in someone’s house to save their lives,” she said. “When Uncle couldn’t find them, they went back and once again started to assault Bindu until she was dead.” Mandavi said she was shocked at the brutality of the assault, which left Bindu Sodi with wounds on her face, head and neck. “Some parts of her flesh from the cheeks were missing,” Mandavi said, sobbing. “She was hit by the axe several times at several places, they smashed her face with stones and brutally assaulted her until she bled to death on the field.” Police sent her body for postmortem to Dantewada, where the family was also taken. The next day, police arrested Chetu Sodi. Officers arrested his son Kumma Sodi on June 29….