Indian pastor, four others arrested for alleged conversion

Five Christians, including a pastor, have been arrested in a northern Indian state under a sweeping anti-conversion law after hardline Hindu activists objected to their holding a Sunday prayer meeting.

Police in Uttar Pradesh on Dec. 8 arrested Pastor Vineet, his wife Payal, who were both identified by a single name, and three others, who were not named, in Kherki Mujkkipur village in Meerut district.

The pastor was holding a prayer meeting and a medical camp at his house. The police recovered religious books, registers, bank details, and other materials from the house, the local Hindi newspaper Jagaran reported on Dec. 9.

Vineet embraced Christianity a decade ago and converted around 250 people, according to the police. He purchased the house six months ago and organized Sunday prayer meetings there under the banner of the Kingdom of God Ministries Trust.

The Dec. 8 meeting was attended by 50 people when a mob from the Hindu Raksha Dal (Hindu Protection Army) reached the spot and objected to it.

The Dal’s state president Gaurav Parashar alleged people were being converted at the prayer meeting and informed the police.

Police arrived on the scene and detained Pastor Vineet and the others. They were charged under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021.

The law strictly bans religious conversions in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state. It is ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janta Party.

“The state’s police have arrested several Christians under the draconian law this year,” Pastor Dinesh Kumar from Uttar Pradesh told UCA News on Dec. 10.

But only time will tell if the allegations of conversion are true and if the authorities have any proof against the arrested people, he added.

“The allegations are proved baseless in most cases,” noted another pastor who did not want to be named for security reasons.

The pro-Hindu state government, led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, amended the controversial anti-conversion law on July 30 to give it more teeth.

The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2024, bans religious conversion by “force, fraud, and allurement.”

A delegation of Christian leaders objected to it, saying it may be misused to target “any collective gathering of Christians by demonizing and portraying it as an attempt to allure people to Christianity.”

The amendments allow anyone to file a police complaint on suspicion of conversion activities. Earlier, only parents, siblings, or a spouse could file a complaint about fraudulent religious conversions.

The new Bill also imposes disproportionately severe penalties, such as the provision of 20 years or life imprisonment if convicted for religious conversion. Earlier, the maximum punishment provided for was 10 years.

This article was originally published on https://www.ucanews.com/news/indian-pastor-four-others-arrested-for-alleged-conversion/107252