India: Up to 70 Christians “Languishing in Jail,” Denied Bail in Uttar Pradesh
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – The International Christian Concern (ICC) humanitarian organization has reported that as many as 70 Christians in India’s Uttar Pradesh state remain imprisoned without trial for allegedly converting Hindus to Christianity.
According to the ICC report published on May 24, dozens of Christians arrested under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance of 2020 are “languishing in jails” in Uttar Pradesh while authorities deny them bail without reasonable grounds.
A local pastor from Varanasi city in Uttar Pradesh told ICC he has been working to have the Christians released, but that bail is consistently refused.
“Since the time the national elections for the Lower House of Indian Parliament have been announced, we have seen that the process for bail applications to move forward and bail hearings have all become slow. I can say that around 70 pastors are still in jail,” the pastor, whose name is withheld for security reasons, said.
Twelve out of India’s 28 states now have harsh anti-conversion laws, which are frequently abused to harass and persecute non-Hindu religious groups such as Muslims and Christians.
In its report, ICC noted that Christians in Uttar Pradesh have faced intensified persecution since the state passed anti-conversion legislation. “Police have since brazenly stormed peaceful gatherings of Christians in their churches and even houses, accusing pastors of forcefully converting Hindus to Christianity and subsequently detaining them on multiple false charges,” ICC said. “Any gathering of Christians in UP, even a ubiquitous birthday celebration, carries risk as those who attended such events have been falsely implicated and detained.”
Ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party for nearly 10 years, India ranks 11 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.
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