INDIA
India has a staggering diversity of racial, ethnic, religious and linguistic groups. Pressing problems include border disputes, overpopulation, poverty and economic and religious strife. In August 2009, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom added India to its “Watch List” for the country’s violations of religious freedom.
In the past, persecution was confined to specific regions of India. It has now spread nearly everywhere, as radical Hindus seek to purify India of all religions except Hinduism. Seven Indian states have anti-conversion laws in place. These laws impose prison terms and hefty fines on anyone who converts Indians by force, fraud or allurement. Please pray for the persecuted Christians of India.
NEW DELHI, September 15
The High Court of northern India’s Himachal Pradesh state on Monday (Sept. 12) questioned one of the many disputed provisions in the state’s “anti-conversion” law in a lawsuit filed by a Christian group. “One of the two judges immediately recognized that there should be no question of the district magistrate [administrative head] granting permission or conducting an inquiry into whether a person’s faith is genuine,” a representative of the Evangelical Fellowship of India’s Advocacy Department, the main petitioner, told Compass. The source quoted the judge, Justice Surjit Singh, as saying, “If I am dying and I want to change my religion, will I wait for some babu [official] to tell me I can do it?” The mandatory provision in the “Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act of 2006” to advise authorities of one’s intended conversion 30 days before one converts was one of the many clauses cited as being “contrary to law, arbitrary and against the basic tenets of jurisprudence” by the petitioners. At the same time, both judges seemed concerned about alleged inducements to convert, “and the biggest hurdle is to overcome this prejudice,” the source added. The court scheduled the next hearing for Sept. 26, requesting the state’s head attorney appear to before it. “We expect the court to hear both sides,” the source said. “However, a final ruling in the matter cannot be expected immediately.”
Chhattisgarh, India, September 19
On Aug. 27 in Jashpur, police arrested eight Christians after Hindu extremists filed a police complaint against them of forceful conversion. A source reported that Nevanti Bhagat, a widow, invited pastor Jaikant Badiak from Jhardkhand and other local pastors and Christians to her house for supper and a prayer meeting. At about 9 p.m., when the Christians were about to leave, the extremists suddenly stormed the house, along with media representatives, and forcibly took Pastor Badiak and seven Christians to the police station. Officers registered a case against the Christians based on the extremists’ complaint for criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and forcible conversion. Of the Christians, six men went to Jashpur jail, and two women to Raigarh jail. The men were released on bail on Aug. 30, and the two women the next day. Two local dailies published stories on the incident.
Karnataka – Police on Aug. 21
arrested a pastor after Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal beat him in Mudhol, Bagalkot. The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) reported that pastor Sangappa Hosamani Shadrak was conducting a prayer meeting when about 20 Bajrang Dal (Youth Wing of the World Hindu Council) stormed the gathering and beat the pastor and desecrated the bread and wine used for Holy Communion. The extremists punched the pastor on his face several times – resulting in the loss of his front teeth – dragged him out to the street, tied him to a tree and called police. Officers from Lokapura, including one identified only as Inspector Choudhary, arrived and took Pastor Shadrak and other Christians to the police station for questioning. The pastor was charged with injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class under various parts of Section 295 of the Indian Penal Code. The pastor was sent to Jamkotai jail and was released on bail the next day after area Christian leaders intervened, reported the GCIC.
