NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – Nearly two months after police arrested a pastor in India from his grandmother's home, tied him to a tree and beat him, threats from officers and others have kept him from filing a complaint on the brutality, sources said.

Pastor Pravesh Kumar of Amamahua, Uttar Pradesh state was visiting a sick uncle at his grandmother's house in nearby Bhais Khur village on April 22 when police arrested him after a Hindu neighbor videotaped them singing during a family devotional on the roof, he said.

The neighbor had sent the video clip to police after recording it from the adjoining rooftop, Pastor Kumar said. Officers immediately arrived and questioned him about the purpose of the visit and about their singing.

When he explained that they were singing hymns, police told him they were arresting him on suspicion of forcible conversion because hymns were part of converting people, he said.

"They completely ignored the fact that the family we were visiting were all followers of Christ," Pastor Kumar said.

Officers took the 26-year-old pastor to Bijauli police outpost at about 8 p.m., tied him face forward to a tree and physically assaulted him as they reviled him in coarse language, he said.

"I was beaten so brutally on my legs that they swelled up, and I was not able to walk," Pastor Kumar told Morning Star News. "I was limping."