From UCA News
A 39-year-old Indian man, who was convicted of being part of a Hindu mob that murdered Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons 26 years ago, has announced he’s now a Christian.
“I took baptism on my own in April and became a Christian,” Sudarshan Hansda, also known as ‘Chanchu’, told UCA News this week.
“Not because a pastor influenced me but [because] my inner voice told me to shun violence, and I turned to the church seeking forgiveness.”
CHANCHU WAS ONLY 13 WHEN HE JOINED DEADLY HINDU MOB ATTACK
Chanchu was a 13-year-old seventh-grader when he joined the Hindu mob that killed the Baptist missionary and his boys — Philip, 10, and Timothy, 6, — in Odisha (formerly Orissa) State in January 1999.
Despite being a juvenile, Chanchu was sentenced to 14 years in jail.
He was released in 2008 after serving about nine and a half years, for good behaviour.
“My worst life was not inside jail, but when I became free and returned home,” he said, explaining what led to his conversion.
CHANCHU LOST ALL HIS IMMEDIATE FAMILY UPON HIS RELEASE FROM JAIL
Soon after his release, Chanchu revealed: “I lost my poor father, a daily labourer; my mother, a firewood collector; and my two sisters. I went mad.”
“I just couldn’t understand what was happening. My only son also died a day after his birth in a government hospital, and then, my wife also died,” he added.
He married again and now has two sons, seven and two years old.
He told how his search for peace led him to the local Baptist Church in the village where Graham Staines and his sons were murdered.
“I FOUND PEACE IN CHURCH”
The church has around 50 Christian families, living alongside 300 Hindu tribal families.
Chanchu said he attends “service every Sunday, and I find peace there.”
One of the ringleaders of the attack on the missionary family, Mahendra Hembram, maintained his innocence when he was recently freed after serving 25-years in prison for the crime.
Chanchu spoke to him after his release:
“He asked me about my conversion. I told him it was my own decision and that I find solace and peace in the church.”
“HE FINDS HOPE AND HAPPINESS IN THE CHURCH”
Chanchu said the Hindu groups who accused Christian missionaries of forceful conversion in villages have “no idea of what is happening here. There is no forceful conversion here.”
He now grows vegetables and rice on his land, and also works as a skilled labourer building houses in nearby villages.
One of his pastors told UCA News that Chanchu has reformed:
“He has come a long way, braving all the odds, and now finds hope and happiness in the church, and we all care for him and his family.”
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