Seven Christians, including a pastor and a woman, were arrested in Uttar Pradesh for violating anti-conversion laws, and their prayer hall was sealed by police in Uttar Pradesh, India, on July 23.
Police arrested pastor Vinod Kumar James, the head of the church, and six others during a Sunday prayer service in their Prarthana Bhavan (Prayer Hall) in Badesar village, in the Ghazipur district of northern Uttar Pradesh, on July 23.
On July 24, all seven defendants appeared in a local court and were remanded to jail.
Vikrant Kumar John, son of arrested pastor Vinod Kumar James, said, "It is totally a false case against our people."
John told UCA News, "A 50-strong police team came during the Sunday service and rushed inside the church and stopped the prayer service, accusing us of conducting religious conversions."
He added that they also seized copies of the Bible and other Christian books.
A worship service attended by more than 700 people was disrupted by police, who arrested the pastor and six other people and allowed the others to return home after the arrest.
According to John, the police were following a predetermined script, and Jitendra Kumar, a Hindu leader known for his right-wing ideology, had instructed his supporters to file a complaint at the prayer hall.
Kumar filed a complaint stating that Pastor James conducted special prayers on Fridays and Sundays, which attracted hundreds of attendees.
His charges against the pastor are that he offered the people Rs 45,000 (US $549) for becoming Christians and jobs in return.
John stated, "We never converted anyone by offering jobs and money."
There are 11 provincial states in India that have enacted draconian laws criminalizing allurement, coercion, and force in the conversion process. Uttar Pradesh is the most populous of these states.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi leads the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has a pro-Hindu stance and governs the state.
Uttar Pradesh punishes unlawful conversions with one to ten years imprisonment and heavy fines.
Also, the law forbids inter-religious marriages. It has been called the "anti-Love Jihad Law" by Hindu groups, accusing Muslim men of courting Hindu women and converting them to Islam.
According to Christian leaders, Christians' lives have been miserable since the law was enacted in 2021.
According to the United Christian Forum (UCF), a New Delhi-based organization, Uttar Pradesh stands as the most persecuted state in India. Over the course of the past six months, this state has witnessed a total of 400 events, with 155 of them being acts of violence specifically targeting Christians. These figures are part of the UCF's comprehensive monitoring of violence against Christians throughout the nation.
Based on the findings of UCF's analysis, it is observed that in the majority of instances, law enforcement agencies refrain from pressing charges against offenders. Additionally, it is noteworthy that Christians constitute a mere 0.18 percent of the total population of 20 million individuals in the state, with the bulk of citizens identifying as Hindus.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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