5 Indian Christians granted bail in ‘conversion’ case

Five Christians including a pastor were granted bail after spending over two months in jail on suspicion of alleged religious conversion activities in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

A court in Azamgarh district on Aug. 30 granted bail to Pastor Poonam Bind, Sheel Bind, Vijay Bahadur, Sonvarsha and Asha (identified with their single names), their lawyer Ashish Kumar told UCA News on Sept. 1.

All five were in jail since June 29. “My clients were in Azamgarh jail for over two months on conversion charges. I can’t share more details right now as I have to see the court order,” Kumar added.

The lawyer said the case against the five Christians “is not yet closed” and investigations will continue.

Media reports said they were arrested in Azamgarh for organizing a house prayer service after a complaint was filed with the police by local residents.

Persecution of Christians continues in the district although there have been no religious conversion activities, Pastor Dinesh Kumar told UCA News on Sep. 1.

On Aug. 13, the police registered a case of alleged conversion against three Christians including a woman and her daughter in Sadatpur village in the district. The two women were detained by the police for inquiry, he said.

In neighboring Jaunpur district, five Christians including three pastors were arrested by police who have filed charges of alleged conversion against 37 people including 19 women in Rajjupur village on Aug. 15

Media reports said that the five people were produced before a sub-divisional magistrate on the same day and released on bail.

In yet another case, a Protestant pastor, his wife and their three-year-old son have been jailed for holding a Sunday prayer service at their home in Haidergarh, Barabanki district.

Pastor Harendra Singh and his wife Priya Singh were arrested by the police on July 31. The couple had to take their son along with them to jail, a common practice followed in case of children requiring maternal care.

Pastor Kumar said there were many such cases where Christians were being “falsely charged, arrested and harassed without any proof of conversion.”

The New Delhi-based United Christian Forum (UCF), an ecumenical body that keeps track of Christian persecution across the country, has recorded 155 incidents of violence and harassment against Christians in Uttar Pradesh during the past six months.

During the same period, some 400 incidents of persecution against Christians were recorded in the country, according to UCF.

Uttar Pradesh is India’s most populous state and is ruled by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party.

The state government promulgated a stringent anti-conversion law on Nov. 27, 2020, prohibiting conversion “either directly or otherwise” of any person from one religion to another “by use or practice of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage.”

Christians make up 0.18 percent of Uttar Pradesh state’s 200 million people.

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