Four unidentified people vandalized a church in the Tarn Taran district of India's Punjab state in the early hours of Wednesday.
According to the Hindustan Times, the armed men took the security guard hostage before they destroyed statues of the Mother Mary and Jesus Christ and set fire to a car parked outside the church.
Prior to the incident, a Sikh leader, Giani Harpreet Singh, claimed that "Christian missionaries have been forcibly converting Sikhs through fraudulent practices. Sikhs and Hindus of Punjab are being misled and converted."
Singh also alleged that as Punjab shares an international border with Pakistan, many funds are supplied through the border for Christian missionary campaigns.
For months, many Sikhs have been alleging that the Christian missionary is proselytizing, especially along the border areas. However, church members have categorically denied the accusations of forced conversions.
"People are educated enough these days. People join church for solace, not forcefully," Albert Dua, a Christian former member of Punjab's minority commission, told Indian media in April.