Indian pastor, 4 others get bail in conversion case
Five people, including a pastor, have been released after a court in northern India granted them bail in a case where they stand accused of violating a stringent state anti-conversion law.
“It is true we have got the anticipatory bail under severe conditions,” Pastor Dinesh Kumar told to News on May 10.
The Jaunpur district court in Uttar Pradesh on May 9 ordered each of them to furnish a bond of Rs 100,000 (US$1,217.99) and two reliable sureties and also banned them from direct or indirect inducement or threat to any person connected with the case, which was registered after they were jailed in February.
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“I am grateful to God that at least we don’t need to fear arrest,” Pastor Kumar said. They were picked up on Feb. 12 during a prayer gathering in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Later, a separate case under the provisions of the anti-conversion law was slapped on them.
They were asked to cooperate with the ongoing probe registered under the Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, enacted by government in India’s largest provincial state known for hate crimes against Christians.
The pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party government pieced together a sweeping law in 2021 that bans “unlawful conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage.”
Narrating the incident that led to his arrest in February, Pastor Kumar said the police along with right-wing Hindu activists barged into his house and detained 16 persons, including three women.
“When I told them it was a routine prayer meeting and nothing was illegal about it, they abused me using foul language and threatened to raze my house down,” he said.
They also took away copies of the Bible, and damaged the music system among other things at home, he lamented.
Though he was released from jail four days after his arrest on Feb. 12, the police registered another case under the anti-conversion law, accusing five of them of converting many persons to Christianity.
“We got to know about it later and approached the court for anticipatory bail. It is a false case and seems part of a well-orchestrated plan,” he added.
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Several Christian leaders, including pastors, who are booked under the stringent anti-conversion law are languishing in different jails in Uttar Pradesh.
There are 34 pastors inside jails of 11 of 75 districts in Uttar Pradesh, according to Christian leaders who are assisting the accused persons in legal matters.
