Bhubaneswar, Jan. 22 -- A Christian pastor was assaulted, paraded with a garland of shoes and forced to eat cow dung on suspicion of religious conversion in Odisha's Dhenkanal district on January 4.

The pastor Bipin Bihari Naik, his wife Vandana and others were in a prayer meeting on the day when a mob of 15 to 20 people allegedly asked Naik to come outside the house, which he refused, saying he would first complete the prayer.

His wife alleged that the mob then forcibly entered the house and began assaulting all attendees.

"Besides us, there were seven families who were praying. My children and I managed to run out of the house and rushed through a narrow alley towards the nearest police station," Vandana told Maktoob Media.

Although...