Two busloads of Christians on a Lenten pilgrimage tour in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh were intercepted by Hindu nationalist groups on March 31 and handed over to police in the town of Jabalpur.

Then, senior clergy members from the Roman Catholic Diocese, including the Vicar General of Jabalpur Diocese and the Parish Priest of St. Peter and Paul Cathedral Church, who went to assist the pilgrims at the police precinct, were also beaten in front of the officers.

This incident, which saw widespread backlash from different quarters, also resonated in the Indian Parliament, where opposition members led by the Indian National Congress, on Thursday, staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha (Lower House) protesting the alleged attack on the Roman Catholic priests.

The opposition members sought to raise the issue and some of them stood in the aisle raising slogans demanding a discussion on the issue. But the House Speaker Om Birla did not allow them, and after raising slogans, they staged a walkout from the House.

The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) expressed deep concern over the detention of the Christian pilgrims and the physical assault of the clergy members.

“The attack on senior clergy members inside a police station is deeply troubling,” said Rev. Vijayesh Lal, general secretary of EFI, in a press release. “We are concerned that such incidents undermine the constitutional protections guaranteed to all citizens and call for a fair and thorough investigation into the matter.”

Activists from the two Hindu outfits, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal, who got wind that Christian pilgrims had come from Mandla town to Jabalpur, chased and stopped the two abuses, alleging that the tribal people, numbering more than 50, were secretly brought in to convert their religion.

But the passengers said that they are Christians from the beginning and were on a pilgrimage tour as part of their pre-Easter celebrations. They even mentioned that they each paid INR 500 ($6) for hiring the tour bus.

The Hindu organizations then demanded that the pilgrims show their identity to prove they were Christians. It may be noted that Indian resident identity cards do not mention any religion.

The officer in charge of the police station where the buses were taken also said that they did not find any evidence of illegal conversion.

Various Christian organizations in Jabalpur staged a protest in the town against the attacks on the clergy and pilgrims. Following this, the police registered a complaint against the attackers.