India: Christian teacher charged with human trafficking for escorting students to Bible institute

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A Christian teacher in central India has been violently attacked by police and charged with human trafficking for escorting a small group of tribal Christian students by bus from their home state of Chhattisgarh to a Bible institute in Kerala state, with their parents’ consent, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

On July 26, Christian educator Liju Kuriakose was accompanying eight Christian students aged 15 to 22 to a Bible school in Kochi, Kerala, when police stopped the bus they were on in Manikpur, Chhattisgarh state, MSN reports. “We all had vehemently refused and told the police that we have been Christians for a while and are not new converts,” one of the students, identified only as Govardhan for security reasons, told Morning Star News.

“All eight of us had secured admission in a Bible institute in Kochi, Kerala, and brother Liju came to take us for our own safety,” Govardhan told MSN. “At around 10:30 a.m., after we boarded the bus, one man appearing to be a passenger caught hold of brother Liju and commanded the bus driver to stop the bus at Manikpur police station.”

Kuriakose was arrested and taken to a police station where he was violently interrogated and accused of being a human trafficker, MSN reports. “They confiscated my mobile phone, my ID proofs and checked my bank transactions; they could find no evidence,” Kuriakose said. “But as they continued investigating, I was put through severe mental torture. I was not allowed to call my wife. Nobody knew that I was in police custody.” Kuriakose was charged with human trafficking and luring children to convert by offering them money, and is due to appear before the Judicial Magistrate of First Class in Ambikapur on August 18, MSN reports.

In a statement to MSN, Pastor Chander Paul said three of the students whom Kuriakose was accompanying belong to his church in Kanakpur, Chhattisgarh state. “The parents consented to the admission of children in the Bible institute in Kochi,” Pastor Paul told Morning Star News. “The kids were very happy and were very much looking forward to the courses. They didn’t understand what was happening. They have been very upset since then.”

Ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party since 2014, India ranks 11th on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2023 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

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