JAIPUR: Another Christian family in the Rajasthan capital received threats from suspected radical groups on Sunday prompting the police to accord them security. The likeness of the case to the attack on preacher Walter Massey in the Nandpuri locality here the previous Sunday is worrying human rights activists and the police alike.

After an assurance from the authorities, the family of Than Singh John, originally hailing from Dholpur district of Rajasthan, went back to its rented accommodation in Paldi Meena settlements on Jaipur-Agra Road on the outskirts of the City. A case under Section 505 Indian Penal Code was registered in the Kanota police station, falling in Jaipur (Rural) district.

Mr. John, a pastor with the Believers Church of India, his wife Ruth and two children had virtually fled from their modest house in Paldi Meena, a resettlement colony of lower income group, after two masked youth, who came on a motorcycle in the morning, asked them to leave the place. Mr. John was making preparations for the Sunday morning prayer then. As Ruth noticed a group of people holding sticks standing at a distance, the family, which had heard of the Nandpuri attack, fled.

Once reaching the city, 15 km away, the family approached social activist groups, which contacted the police, seeking registration of a case and police protection to the fugitives. Mr. John recalled a similar situation in February 2006 when four persons had threatened him outside his house. He had tried to file a case with Kanota police station then — which the activists found, never got registered.

"We decided that the family would go back to their residence. Now it is for the authorities to protect them," Kavita Srivastava, general secretary of Rajasthan People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), said. "The developments are worrisome as the groups are choosing Sundays, the day of worship for Christians, for attack," she noted.

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