Two West Bengal prayer gatherings disrupted the same Sunday, Christian groups allege

Christian Today India (September 9), drawing on UCA News, and News Karnataka the same day said that on Sunday, September 6, 2026, two house gatherings in the Medinipur districts were disrupted. In Nandapurya, West Medinipur, about 25 people allegedly entered a Christian home around 11 a.m. where Pastor Sukhendu Singh was leading prayer with believers from neighboring villages — Christian Today named eight families. Eyewitness Purna Hembram said the group threatened Singh and took him away. Victor Behera, state coordinator of the Bengal Christian Council (Bangiya Christiya Pariseba), said Singh was taken to a local Bharatiya Janata Party office, abused, forced to sign an undertaking not to hold village prayers, and pressured into a recorded statement calling Christianity foreign, then released that evening. Behera said lawyer Samarjeet Dey is helping with a police complaint. Those are Behera’s and the Christian-press accounts.

The same morning, those reports said, about 125 people allegedly entered a Presbyterian house church in Rangilabasan, East Medinipur. Member Chhabi Das said most worshippers had already left; the premises were damaged and a cross broken into four pieces, and host Tapan Samanta was assaulted. Some women who intervened were taken to a police station and later released, Das said. Herod Mullick of the Bengal Christian Council and Fr Dominic Gomes, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Calcutta, called for an impartial investigation; Christian Today also quoted All India Catholic Union spokesperson John Dayal on a wider West Bengal pattern. All of that remains allegation under community complaint, not a court finding.

This item is a catch-up to Faith & World Brief’s earlier West Bengal prayer-disruption brief, which used WE News English, News Karnataka, and The Indian Express. Christian Today’s September 9 piece is still UCA-derived. The Indian Express September 6 report describes a climate of suspended house prayers and conversion accusations; it is not a primary account of these two Medinipur incidents. Mainstream coverage of this specific Sunday is thinner than of earlier August cases. This brief does not recycle those August incidents as the lede.