Assist News Service yesterday reported that the Jesus Film crew has been attacked by a group of Hindu extremists while carrying out their mission in the Uttar Pradesh state, Northern India

The JESUS Film Project, spearheaded by the Campus Crusade for Christ, distributes the film "JESUS" - a two-hour docudrama about the life of Christ based on the Gospel of Luke. The film has been seen across the world and translated into hundreds of languages since its initial release in 1979.

This time the Film has now stepped out into the land of Northern India, however, the local Hindu extremist groups seem have reacted vigorously to the movement. Assist News Service said a raid was carried out by at least 35 Hindu extremists on a showing of the Jesus Film.

George Ninan, the South Asia Director for Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) described, "When the film showing was going on, around 35-40 men attacked them, tearing up the screen and beating up people."

During the attack, all the viewers fled the scene. Karan Bahadur, the leader of the film team suffered the most. "He could not escape and was badly beaten and became unconscious," Ninan said.

It was reported by Assist News Service that Bahadur was taken captive, tortured, and questioned in detail about his family and work. The following night he was released near some railroad tracks and told to run for his life. He ran as far as his strength allowed, then hid himself in bushes that lined the track. The next morning Bahadur jumped aboard a slow-moving freight train, then eventually made his way by truck to Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state.

After Bahadur was found, the Jesus Film crew reported the incident to the local police, but they have refused to deal entirely with the matter. The police did recover some of the film equipment from the school compound, but the generator used to supply power for the equipment is still missing.

"Praise God there was no serious injury to our staff and that we could get the projector back and the film," Ninan, the South Asia Director for CCC said. "Ninan, on staff with Campus Crusade since 1971, prays daily for the gospel to breakthrough in India."

The Uttar Pradesh state in Northern India is home to 167 million people and is the most populated state of India. Uttar Pradesh can lay claim to be the oldest seat of India's culture and civilisation, especially in terms of religion because it is closely related to the origins of Hinduism and Buddhism.

Many renowned epics of Hinduism were written in the state, and in addition, Gautama Buddha spent most of his life in eastern Uttar Pradesh, wandering from place to place preaching his sermons.

In Uttar Pradesh where Buddhism and Hinduism are dominant, less than one percent of the population knows Jesus Christ. In recent years, militant groups have arisen and urged Hinduism to be recognised as the official state religion. They have been reported as attacking both Muslims and Christians because they are said to follow a "foreign" religion.

There were also records of major targeted attacks on missionaries in the past. Cited by the Assist News Service, Father Thomas, a Jesuit priest from Belgium, was killed by Hindu nationalists disguised as police officers in 1997. Another priest was severely beaten and paraded naked through the streets by militants in the same year. In 1999, an Australian missionary and his two sons were burned to death in their van by Hindu extremists.

Over 100 incidents of violence have been documented against Christians since 1998, including the rape of four nuns and one nun being shot in the face. Many Christians have been injured, killed and left homeless by such attacks.

However, persecution has not deterred missionaries and caused a hindrance to the propagation of the Gospel. For CCC’s Jesus Film ministry, the team at the Uttar Pradesh state in Northern India is just one of 900 operating in different parts of India.

George Ninan, the South Asia Director of CCC, remains hopeful about India. "Most of the ministries are seeing results," he says. "Please continue to pray for their protection."