In a shocking turn of events, on January 17, 2025, a special court in Uttar Pradesh’s Ambedkar Nagar handed down a five-year prison sentence to a Christian couple, Pastor Jose Pappachan and Sheeja Pappachan, for their alleged crime of forced religious conversion. However, their offence? Engaging with Dalit families in Shahapur Firoz, urging them to shun the addiction of alcohol and adopt a more reformed way of life—a crime now punishable under India’s increasingly draconian anti-conversion laws. Alongside the prison term, the court had also slapped them with a Rs 2,000 fine each, in what appeared to be an attempt to further cement their “wrongdoing”. However, On Feb 7, in a swift and commendable move, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court not only agreed to hear the matter but also granted bail to the couple. This is not an isolated case. A few months earlier, on September 26, 2024, three others—Balchand Jaisawar, Gopal Prajapati, and one unnamed individual—were convicted under the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, receiving prison terms ranging from three months to six years for engaging in mass conversions. As India edges closer to a legal stranglehold on religious choice, other states are following

The Christian community finds itself grappling with increasing threats to its existence and rights. Recent developments in Arunachal Pradesh, one of India’s most diverse and remote regions, have raised serious concerns among human rights advocates and religious organizations alike. The government’s decision to enforce a dormant anti-conversion law from 1978 and ongoing calls to strip Christian converts of their Scheduled Tribe status reflect a broader strategy to curtail the growth of Christianity among tribal populations. Anti-Conversion Law: A Long-Dormant Threat Revived Arunachal Pradesh, home to 26 major tribes and over 100 sub-tribes, is a melting pot of religious and cultural diversity. However, the state’s anti-conversion law, dormant for decades, is set to be enforced in 2025. Originally enacted to curb religious conversions “by force, inducement, or fraudulent means,” the law has resurfaced in a context where Christians make up over 30% of the state’s population, closely followed by Hindus and adherents of indigenous faiths. Critics argue that such laws, though framed in neutral language, are weaponized to target Christians and Muslims. The legislation requires anyone converting to another religion to report the act to local authorities, opening the door to potential harassment. Pastors and evangelists could face severe penalties, including up to ten

The unchecked persecution of Christians in India and the silence of the government in such cases will threaten the Christian identity, the civil society group United Christian Forum said on Friday. In a statement, the group said that attacks against the community had become more frequent, brutal and systematic. It referred to a report it released on January 10, which said that the number of attacks against Christians had increased from 127 in 2014 to 834 in 2024. The group said that if the trend was not stopped immediately by “political will and concerted government action, it will threaten the identity and existence of the Indian Christian community in their motherland much before 2050”. Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh recorded the highest number of attacks on Christians and had become “the hotspots of viral hate, brutal mob violence, rampant social ostracisation in which elements of the law and justice apparatus is complicit”, the group said citing its 2024 report. While Uttar Pradesh recorded 209 attacks against Christians in 2024, Chhattisgarh reported 165. The United Christian Forum on Wednesday said that the number of cases reported in the two states merely scratched the surface. “Across the country, the crimes that come to our notice may be from thrice

Police in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh arrested seven Christians in two separate cases following attacks by Hindu hardliners who accused of them of religious conversion on Republic Day on Jan. 26. Hardline Hindu group, Bajrang Dal (Brigade of Lord Hanuman), attacked Christians after a Sunday prayer service in Mowa, a town near the state capital Raipur, Arun Pannalal, president of Chhattisgarh's Christian Forum told UCA News on Jan. 27. They accused the Christians of illegal religious conversion, a common tactic to target Christians, he alleged. The attack came when Christians were participating in a national flag raising ceremony after the prayer service, he said. He also claimed that some Christians were injured and hospitalized, one remains in critical condition. Bajrang Dal members also ransacked a house Church, and filed a complaint with police in Pandri police station who arrested three Christians, Pannalal said. They have been charged under the state’s anti-conversion law. The local Christian community is shocked by these events as they were not even allowed to celebrate Republic Day, he added. Hindu hardliners have targeted Christians in the state for years accusing them of luring and converting people of various faiths including Hindus. Christians have vehemently dismissed the claims as anti-Christian propaganda. Earlier on

The Supreme Court on Monday delivered a split verdict on whether a deceased Christian, who had converted from the Scheduled Tribe (ST) community, could be buried in the common burial ground where his Hindu ancestors were buried. The Chhattisgarh government had insisted that the deceased should be buried in a separate burial ground for Christians, 20 kilometers away from the village, to avoid potential law and order issues. The deceased’s son, however, said that his father had a right to be buried in the same land as his ancestors, adding that he should not face such discrimination merely because he converted to Christianity. Noting that the deceased had been lying in the morgue since January 7, the Division Bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma did not refer the matter to a larger Bench and instead, issued directions under Article 142. While Justice Nagarathna proposed that the deceased be buried in his family’s private agricultural land, Justice Sharma upheld the Chhattisgarh High Court order, refusing permission to bury the deceased in his village grounds. Rejecting the Chhattisgarh government’s concerns that existing rules usually did not allow such an option, Justice Nagarathna termed the refusal to bury the Christian at the village burial

India has recorded the highest number of attacks on Christian properties globally, with 4,949 incidents targeting homes, businesses and places of worship between November 2022 and 2024, according to a new report by Global Christian Relief (GCR). This finding is corroborated by the International Christian Concern’s (ICC) 2025 Global Persecution Index, which places India in its “moderate persecution” category. As per GCR findings, the violence against Christians peaked in Manipur state, where ethnic tensions erupted in May 2023 as Hindu extremists from the Meitei tribe systematically targeted predominantly Christian Kuki communities. A Kuki pastor from Imphal described the organised nature of attacks: “They knew exactly where I lived

The Evangelical Church of India has several churches, seminaries, and health centers throughout the country. Broadwell Christian Hospital in Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, has cared for the people in the region for 114 years. But when its annual convention in February 2023 drew huge crowds, a local official reported an illegal mass conversion event to the authorities. Doctors, pastors, and other hospital staff came under scrutiny and several were arrested. Officials at an unaffiliated Christian university fifty miles away faced harassment from government officials. The hard evidence? Gideon Bibles had been placed in the hospital wards. According to local police, these are a clear sign of proselytizing, which is illegal under Uttar Pradesh’s anti-conversion laws. Although some of the Christian doctors and hospital staff were acquitted by India’s Supreme Court in September 2023, others remain in custody. India is a secular, socialist, democratic republic with a parliamentary system of government. It is also the land of Gautama Buddha, who taught self-denial, and Mahatma Gandhi, who taught nonviolence, and a land where the gospel of Jesus Christ, who taught love of neighbor and enemy, has been preached for two thousand years. For more than seven decades its people have found ways to share

In a first in India, a court has jailed a Christian couple for five years for attempting to convert people in a northern state, considered a hotbed of anti-Christian activities. A special court in Uttar Pradesh's Ambedkar Nagar district, which deals with crimes against socially poor castes, convicted Pastor Jose Pappachan and his wife, Sheeja Pappachan on Jan.22. They were sentenced to five years imprisonment and each fined 25,000 rupees (US$300). “This is the first time we have encountered such a sentence for a suspected conversion attempt,” said A. C. Michael, a Christian leader who monitors anti-Christian activities in the country. He said the verdict and punishment “for a suspected attempt to convert will not stand the scrutiny of a higher court.” An attempt to convert is “not a recognized crime under the law,” Michael said. Pastor Joy Mathew, who has been assisting the couple, said the judgment was "biased.” "We will challenge it in the High Court, the top court in the state,” Mathew told UCA News on Jan. 23. “There was no evidence on record to substantiate the conversion charges, but still, they were convicted,” he said. “This is bad in law” if people can be convicted “merely based on unsubstantiated statements from those listed as

Indian Christians face an existential threat if the government fails to act immediately to stop the spiraling incidents of hate crimes, says an ecumenical Christian group. Incidents of anti-Christian violence rose steeply from 127 in 2014 to 834 in 2024, revealed the latest report released by the United Christian Forum (UCF) on Jan. 24. “If the trend is not stopped immediately by political will and concerted government action, it will threaten the identity and existence of the Indian Christian community in their motherland,” the New Delhi-based body of several Christian denominations said in a statement. A C Michael, a UCF office-bearer, said practicing the Christian faith in the country is going to be a challenging task unless the government reins in the right-wing Hindu groups. “Christians are being treated like they do not belong to this country,” Michael told UCA News on Jan. 24. Michael, a former member of the Delhi state’s minority commission, said that the Church’s charitable works were falsely portrayed as “a façade for religious conversion through false narratives” by the right-wing organizations. Michael Williams, president of UCF, said the attacks against the community have become “more frequent, brutal, and systematic.” “Christians who have long been a peaceful and integral part of India’s diverse