Four people were arrested in a village on Friday following complaints by Hindu organisations Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang DalPer. Christians in India are subject to constant intimidation due to laws against conversions. Bishop Gerald Mathias of Lucknow: “Innocent people are languishing in prisons. It is unacceptable.”
Lucknow () – The persecution of the Christian community in the world’s largest democracy is taking place mainly through the anti-conversion laws applied in some Indian states. The latest hostility concerns the arrest of four Christians, including a pastor from Uttarakhand, in a village in the Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh. The alleged charge is that of converting people to Christianity by luring them under the pretext of granting them benefits. “The number of attacks against Christians and their religious gatherings is increasing,” the Bishop of Lucknow, Gerald Mathias, told . “The Christian community cannot profess, practice and propagate its faith freely, as enshrined in the Constitution, because of these interferences, intimidations and atrocities.”
The police have launched an investigation into the incident, which allegedly took place on Friday night, following complaints from activists of two Hindu organisations, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal. The legal basis is the reference sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, a penal code passed in 2023, and the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021. Thakurdwara police officer Rajesh Kumar said the incident allegedly took place at Rammanawala village under the jurisdiction of his police station when a meeting of a Christian religious congregation was being held. Kumar said activists of the two Hindu organisations intervened by informing the police and alleging that they had been forced into religious conversion through enticement.
The general secretary of the VHP’s Moradabad district unit, Pankaj Singh Pal, then filed a complaint against four people, including one Kuldeep, who claims to be a pastor from Uddham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand, and three locals, including two brothers, Jaipal and Amarjeet, and one Mukesh. In the statement, he said that people are given money, refrigerators, televisions, bicycles, motorcycles and sewing machines to convert to Christianity. He said that Christians who help convert other people are given Rs 25,000, while the pastor who converts them is given Rs 35,000 for each conversion. Earlier yesterday, the commandant said that an information report under sections 351(2) for insult and 351(3) for criminal intimidation as well as sections 3 and 5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act was registered at the Thakurdwara police station on Saturday.
“The anti-conversion law is used crudely and people, especially pastors, are often arrested on false charges. Fundamentalists go around as vigilantes to disrupt congregations or religious conferences,” added Mgr Gerald Mathias, speaking to . According to him, the police arrest Christians simply because someone has complained, without having any proof. However, according to the law, only the person attacked or his close relatives can file a complaint. “In most cases, it is Sangh Parivar organisations, such as the VHP and Bajrangdal, that complain and file the charges. As a result, innocent people are languishing in jails. This is simply unacceptable,” he said.
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