In December of the same year the VHP announced that it would launch a campaign to stop missionaries from converting Hindus to Christianity. It controls much of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh states. Pali Akara Raphael, Andreas Kindo and Shinu Joseph Valliparampil were shot at after they refused to give protection money to the insurgents. Two bombs exploded inside a Roman Catholic Church in Muzaffarpur, Bihar state. India is a Hindu nation.
Christians leave India.
A Muslim religious school was also burned on the same day. Ten men were sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of gang raping four nuns in 1998. This decision is significant for Christians because Hindus are seldom punished for crimes against Christians and other religious minorities. Pastor Paul Joseph and Pastor Urio Bhatra had been visiting with believers in Chandahandee village. They left the meeting on a motorbike and were then attacked by the Hindus who beat them and badly damaged the motorbike.