Pastor Allen Gobi’s church, Family of Jesus and its 25 members have been meeting there since December 2018.
It is one of 38,000 churches across the state overseen by The Synod of Pentecostal Churches.
The pastor has told Christian charity Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) that he had been “harassed” by police to obtain permission to conduct prayer meetings or face closure.
The threat was carried out on 24th March went ten police officers arrived as the prayer meeting was about to begin at 9:30am.
Pastor Gobi was taken to a police station where he was forced to sign a written admission that he had no permission to conduct prayer meetings in the property.
The charity was informed by local sources that the Hindu Munnani (Hindu Front) had submitted a petition to the police to take action against the church.
Tamil Nadu, a South Indian state famed for its Hindu temples, has seen a surge of targeted attacks by local Hindu extremist groups against people holding prayer meetings.
Nehemiah Christie, Director of Legislation & Regulations at the Synod of Pentecostal Churches in Tamil Nadu, said in a statement: “It is sad to see police officers whose duty is to uphold the Indian Constitution acting in a biased and discriminatory way.
“Their failure to uphold the rule of law emboldens the local fringe groups to target the Christian’s right to worship. We are shocked to hear that…
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