CV NEWS FEED // Indian police arrested a Catholic priest on February 5 for allegedly trying to convert “poor Hindus” to Christianity.
AsiaNews reported that Fr. Dominic Pinto was arrested after he provided a space for a Protestant group to occasionally host prayer services in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
As the group gathered on February 5, several Hindus tried to attack women attending the meeting. They additionally went to the police, claiming that the service was coercively converting Hindus.
In Uttar Pradesh, it is forbidden to attempt to convert another person, much less coerce or force anyone into a different religion. Even uncoerced conversions are made difficult, as any person who converts is required to submit a “form of declaration” within sixty days of the conversion and appear before the District Magistrate to officially declare the new religion.
The Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, established in 2020, broadly defines unlawful conversion as “any conversion not in accordance with law of the land.”
Local Bishop Gerald Mathais told AsiaNews that calling the prayer service “coerced conversion” is “totally false.” He also described Pinto’s arrest as “a gross misuse of the draconian anti-conversion law in the State.”
Mathias added that police arrested Pinto and about nine other pastors and group leaders. The police also filed a First Information Report (FIR), which accuses fifteen people of violating the unlawful coercion ordinance.
“Police registered the FIR without any evidence or proof of conversion,” Mathias said. “They come under mob pressure or succumb to the dictates of higher ups. This is a typical case of harassment and atrocities against Christians.”
“We are praying earnestly and working to get bail at the earliest,” he continued. “I hope and pray that justice and good sense will prevail.”
According to data from the United Christian Forum, 287 of the 687 anti-Christian incidents reported in India from January to November 2023 occurred in Uttar Pradesh. Additionally, Christians make up only 0.18% of Uttar Pradesh’s population of over 200 million people.
