16-year-old Christian stabbed and stoned to death in India

A 16-year-old Christian, Sambaru Madkami, has been stoned and stabbed to death in East India for his faith, Morning Star News is reporting.

Madkami’s mutilated body was found on June 5 buried in the jungle of Malkangiri, about six kilometers from his village of Kenduguda, Makkangiri District, Odisha State.

A source said he had been seized the previous day by the village animists after they resolved to kill the male heads of the three Christian families in the village that meet in Sambaru’s house.

The village, according to the report, has 210 families but only the three families meet.

According to the source, about seven villagers came to Sambaru’s family house at about 11pm and called his father but he (father) was not around because he was staying overnight at a relative’s house on his way to the hospital several kilometres away for his daughter’s treatment.

The source said Sambaru was then abducted.

“They took him a few meters further, where a huge mob was waiting for him,” the source said. “They tied his hands and started beating him.”

It was also gathered that they went to two other houses thereafter to abduct their heads but the targets escaped.

“They had come for me but I was not at home. I had taken my daughter who was sick to the doctor,” Unga Madkami, father of Sambaru, confirmed.

Before his death, Sambaru had been leading daily meetings of a house church, whose pastor lives in another town.

The pastor reportedly attend service in the church only twice a month because of the growing hostility from the villagers.

The deceased was supposed to be in the hostel at his school in Bhejaguda but because of the COVID-19 lockdown.

“Sambaru knew the word of God the most from among us. So he was the one who led us in a time of prayer and learning from the Bible every day in his house,” Sambaru’s cousin told Morning Star News.