Pastor and six others arrested on ‘conversion’ charges
The police in northern Uttar Pradesh state arrived during the Sunday service and also sealed the prayer hall
Seven Christians, including a pastor and a woman, were arrested and their prayer hall was sealed by police in a northern Indian state for alleged violation of the stringent anti-conversion law.
Police in northern Uttar Pradesh state interrupted a Sunday prayer service on July 23 at Badesar village in Ghazipur district. They took the pastor and six others to the police station, where they were retained for a night.
All seven were presented in a local court on July 24 and were remanded in judicial custody.
“It is totally a false case against our people,” said Vikrant Kumar John, son of arrested pastor Vinod Kumar James, who heads the Protestant James Prarthana Bhavan (Prayer Hall) at Badesar.
John told that a 50 police team came during the Sunday service. “They rushed inside the church and stopped the prayer service, accusing us of conducting religious conversion,” he said.
They also seized copies of the Bible and other Christian books, he added.
Nearly 700 people were attending the service. They arrested the pastor and six others and allowed the others to go home.
"The police seemed to be acting as per a pre-planned script," John alleged while adding that Jitendra Kumar, had earlier sent his supporters to the prayer hall and filed a complaint.
In his complaint, Jitendra Kumar alleged that Pastor James conducted special prayers on Fridays and Sundays which hundreds of people attended.
He accused that, the pastor of offering Rs 45,000 and jobs to the people for becoming Christians.
“We never converted anyone by offering jobs and money,” John said.
