Indian Christian educators denied bail in conversion case
The Lal brothers are accused of funding mass conversion activity in northern Uttar Pradesh
A photograph of an event underway at the Evangelical Church of India Church in Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh’s Harihar Ganj district
A top court in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh has denied anticipatory bail to two top Christian educators accused of mass conversion.
Rajendra Bihari Lal, the vice chancellor of Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, and his brother, Vinod Bihari Lal, who serves as the director at the university, had moved an application in the Allahabad High Court seeking anticipatory bail when police summoned them for interrogation earlier this month.
Justice Manju Rani Chauhan of the Allahabad High Court on Feb. 28 noted that there was material evidence against the duo and hence their application “stands rejected.”
Police have been investigating a complaint of mass conversion reported at Harihar Ganj in the state’s Fatehpur district on April 14, 2022, which happened to be the Maundy Thursday.
The judge while elaborating on the grounds for rejecting their bail application said the intent behind the charitable works undertaken by the Lal brothers appears to be dubious, affecting the lives of marginal sections of society as reported in the alleged case of Mass conversion.
Police say some 70 people had been invited to attend prayers at the Evangelical Church of India in Harihar Ganj but the real purpose was to convert them to Christianity by playing fraud and promising easy money.
A mob of Hindu nationalists complained to the government officials that it was a case of mass religious conversion and sought action against those involved in it.
The police filed cases against 55 Christians and arrested 26. However, all of them were let off on bail.
However, during the investigation, the names of the Lal brothers came up and the police summoned them. But they did not report to the police but approached the high court seeking anticipatory bail.
Justice Chauhan said that the duo cannot claim parity with other persons who have been released on bail earlier. The Lal brothers were influential and involved in funding religious conversions, the court said.
The court observed that “they are channelizing the funds collected from overseas groups for the above purpose, such act shows the gravity of the offense” and therefore not a case fit for granting anticipatory bail.
Meanwhile, Isaac Frank, a member of the university board of directors who is one of the witnesses in the case, said that the Lal brothers were involved in religious conversion activities.
“I have evidence to prove the charges against them,” Frank told UCA News on March 3.
He said the Lal brothers were originally members of the Church of North India (CNI) but now head an independent group called Yeshu Darbar (court of Jesus).
Their university, earlier known as the Allahabad Agricultural Institute, was founded by Presbyterian missioner Sam Higginbottom of the United States in 1910.
In 1947, when British colonial rule ended in the country, the institute was brought under a board of directors representing 14 Christian denominations including the Catholic Church.
The ownership of the institution is currently under dispute, which a source told UCA News, could be seen as the reason for Christians witnessing against the Lal brothers.
Christians make up 0.18 percent of Uttar Pradesh’s 200 million people but have one of the highest numbers of cases of religious persecution against the community.
This article was taken from www.https://www.ucanews.com/
