7 Indian Christians get bail in 'conversion' case
They were charged with the stringent anti-conversion law and spent close to two months in jail in Madhya Pradesh
The top court in a central Indian state has granted bail to seven Christians, including two pastors and a pregnant woman after they spent close to two months in jail for the alleged violation of the stringent anti-conversion law.
The Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Sept. 4 granted bail to Pastors Anil Chouhan and Suresh Dawar and five others, including 28-year-old Durga Mangilal who is pregnant.
“They were trapped in a totally false case,” Pastor Jayakar Kristi, who is following the case, told to the News.
The pastors visited a village in the state to conduct a meeting, but “it was dubbed as a case of religious conversion,” he observed.
“Their arrest and incarceration is totally in violation of the provisions of the anti-conversion law,” Kristi explained.
The pastors and other Christians moved the High Court after two lower courts rejected their bail applications, he added.
Advocate Umesh Manshore, who appeared for the Christians, told the court that under the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, the case has to be filed by the person who was being converted or by his/her close relatives.
“Whereas in this case, the case was filed by a stranger,” Manshore told the court. Besides, police also failed to comply with the 2014 order of the Supreme Court, the top court in the country, that directed police to serve a notice to the accused if the maximum punishment is up to five years, Manshore said.
The High Court in its order said, “It is a fit case to grant bail to the applicants.”
The court, however, asked the Christians to furnish a personal bond of Rs.50,000 each. “This is a clear case of gross violation and misuse of the anti-conversion law,” said Daniel John, a Catholic leader based in Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh.
Police in Dewas district in Madhya Pradesh arrested the Christians on July 16 following a complaint from one Tukaram, who is identified by his first name, and five others. They said the pastors and others were luring Hindus to become Christians, which is a crime under the state’s sweeping anti-conversion law.
They also accused the Christians of defaming Hindu gods like Lord Hanuman and sought action against them for violating the provisions of the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2021, popularly known as the anti-conversion law. “The crowd assaulted the pastors before handing them over to police,” Kristi said.
