Christian persecution ‘going unchecked’ in northern Indian state

The persecution of minority Christians is going unchecked in Uttar Pradesh, a northern Indian state where 17 members of the community, including pastors, have been jailed this month, Christian leaders say.

Many Christians are fearful of practicing their faith as police terrorize the community with fabricated charges of religious conversion to appease hardline Hindu groups in the state, one Christian leader said on Jan. 25.

In the latest case, police arrested two Christians including a pastor on Jan. 24 and a court remanded them to police custody on Jan.25.

“We are trying to seek their bail, but it is unlikely that they will get bail as lower courts often remand those accused in religious conversion charges into judicial custody,” the Christian leader said on condition of anonymity.

“Their only crime was conducting a routine prayer service and now they are in a police station,” he told UCA News.

Those in jail also were charged with the same offense and were unable to get bail from the lower courts, he added.

The situation is very alarming, said Father Anand Mathew, a priest of the Indian Missionary Society based in Varanasi, a city in the state that is home to hundreds of Hindu temples and shrines.

“Holding a prayer meeting has become very difficult. Many Pentecostal pastors stopped their regular prayer services after mainstream print and visual media painted such prayer gatherings as religious conversion gatherings”, Mathew told UCA News on Jan. 26.

Such baseless reporting not only emboldens radical groups but also prompts ordinary Hindus to suspect Christians, the priest said.

He also expressed dismay over what he said was a lack of support from mainstream churches such as the Catholic Church for persecuted Christians.

“Ironically, mainstream churches that are not much affected by persecution in states like Kerala in southern India are trying to openly support the BJP. This is really shocking for persecuted Christians,” he added.

Christians allege that Uttar Pradesh under the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government of monk-turned Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has become hotbed of religious persecution.

The BJP government’s anti-minority policies and actions have emboldened right-wing Hindu groups “to target Christians at their will,” they say.

Christians make up about 0.18 percent of the Hindu-majority state’s more than 200 million people.

The state enacted the Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act 2021 which criminalizes religious conversion including inter-faith marriages.

Church leaders allege that under the guise of containing religious conversion through allurement, force and coercion, Hindu hardliners and police exploit the law as an easy tool to harass Christians with false conversion charges.

Since the law was enacted, 420 Christians including pastors and a Catholic priest have been arrested and jailed. While the majority managed to secure bail, more than 60 are still behind bars as their bail applications are still pending in lower courts and in the state’s High Court.

Uttar Pradesh is one of several Indian states where Christians face high levels of persecution.

From January to November last year, some 287 incidents of persecution against Christians were recorded in the state, according to the New Delhi-based ecumenical group, United Christian Forum.

This article is originally published on  https://www.ucanews.com/news/christian-persecution-going-unchecked-in-northern-indian-state/103958