INDIA Uttar Pradesh, arrested a pastor accused of conversions

Hindu nationalist groups accuse him of attracting followers to his church with money. Sajan K. George (Global Council of Indian Christians): “Unbelievable accusations: the few Pentecostal Christians live in fear and insecurity. Fundamentalists use anti-conversion laws as a pretext to continue harassing.”

Varanasi () – On Sunday, October 16, the Varanasi district police in Uttar Pradesh arrested pastor Chhotelal Jaiswar, a resident of the village of Barwa, in Sindhora. He was denounced by some right-wing nationalist supporters who claimed that he was inciting people to embrace the Christian faith by seducing them with donations of 50,000 rupees (about 620 euros).

The police reported that he was questioned and that action would be taken. In their complaint, Hindu Jagran Manch and Dharma Jagran Seva claim that they caught the church’s pastor red-handed and handed him over to the police. They stated that Jaiswar had given 2,000 rupees to three young men from Thana Phulpur village, promising them the rest of the sum on October 16, when “the conversion program would have been formally completed” at Babatpur’s Sarva India Ministry church. However, the young people showed up that day with two leaders of Hindu organizations.

Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), told : “These accusations of conversion are fabricated and baseless. The few Pentecostal Christians in Uttar Pradesh live in fear and insecurity due to the surveillance of the nationalist right. In addition, believers are very poor and therefore it is impossible for them to attract anyone with money. Uttar Pradesh’s new anti-conversion law, passed in 2021, prohibits illegal conversion from one religion to another through misrepresentation, use of force, undue influence, coercion or any fraudulent means. But it is misused as a tool of harassment: on the basis of a simple verbal complaint, Christian services are interrupted and believers are arrested.”