Jaunpur, India – The Indian government has arrested and charged hundred of Christians for trying to convert Hindus to Christianity.
The Daily Express reported on Tuesday that Christian worshippers in Jaunpur – a heavily Christian city in Uttar Pradesh – were banned from meeting due to a criminal complaint against a congregation lead by pastor Durga Prasad Yadav and 270 followers.
The news outlet says the 271 worshippers were initially cleared of any wrongdoing by a court in August.
But were subsequently arrested and charged with a range of crimes on September 5, including “the spreading of lies about Hinduism” and aggressive conversion tactics.
The worshippers are also accused of allegedly drugging visitors in order to persuade them to convert, while Pastor Yadav was charged with “demonic worship”, which he strongly denies.
Hinduism is a religion of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no founder.
According to media reports, Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, “the eternal tradition”, or the “eternal way”, beyond human history.
India Deputy Police Superintendent Anil Kumar told AsiaNews: “They [271 Christians] now stand accused of various criminal offences, like fraud, defiling places of worship, prejudice against national integration.”
But local pastor A. Anil told Christian news outlet UCAN followers had been worshiping in the area for over 15 years and the claims of forced conversion were “absolutely false and baseless”.
The pastor claimed Christian discrimination had become worse after the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narenda Modi, came to power in 2014.
International human rights organisation Alliance Defending Freedom India (ADF) have filed a petition at the high court to protect citizens’ rights to freely gather and practice their faith.
The organisation said the state had directly violated the Indian constitution, which protects the rights of individuals to practice one’s faith.
Director of ADF India, Tehmina Arora, said of the mass imprisonment: “Nobody should be persecuted because of their faith. In Uttar Pradesh we now sadly witness the results of anti-Christian propaganda that we have had to put up with over the last few years.
“271 people have been wrongly accused and put on trial. The only thing they have done wrong is to be faithful Christians.
“Pastor Durga Prasad Yadav runs a vital church service serving thousands of people. We should no longer stand by and watch as radical groups target Christians and other minorities for their faith.
“India’s Constitution protects the right to freely live out one’s faith. The right of Pastor Yadav and many others to follow the faith of their choice without fear of reprisal is clearly being violated.”
Eight states on the Indian continent have anti-conversion laws in effect.
The Freedom of Religion Act aims to prevent Hindus from converting to Christianity or Islam, when the conversions are based on force, fraud, or inducement.
But a lack of clarity around the laws is said to have led to a ramped-up increase in Christians in the country being persecuted, with local authorities accused of being influenced by radical Hinduist movements and leaning pressure from the BJP government.
Mrs Arora said: “Churches already fear crackdowns from authorities because of the strict requirements of anti-conversion laws.
“These laws also fuel the aggressions of Hindu-fundamentalists against minority groups even in those states where they have not yet been introduced.
“The government and the international community need to wake up to what is happening here in India.”
The Daily Express contributed to this report.
