SW News: Harendra Singh, a pastor from a northern Indian state, and his wife, Priya, were imprisoned on July 31st, along with their 3-year-old toddler, for allegedly holding a prayer group at their house, according to the Union of Catholic Asian News.
Despite his protests, the pastor and his family were arrested for breaking the Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act of 2021. As per Uttar Pradesh's anti-conversion legislation, they were charged with inducing gullible people to convert to Christianity.
Dinanath Jaiswal, a human rights activist who works with persecuted Christians, expressed disappointment that the family's 3-year-old had to accompany them to prison.
Although India's Constitution guarantees religious freedom, Uttar Pradesh legislators declared in a draft ordinance that anti-conversion legislation was necessary to protect gullible individuals, citing several instances of "gullible" people being converted to another faith through deception, coercion, undue influence, pressure, and fraud.
A Christian leader on conditions of anonymity said that persecution of Christians is frequent in Uttar Pradesh and praying or reading the Bible at home may result in imprisonment.
Christian leaders said that they were among 15 Christians, including three pastors, seized and imprisoned in two separate incidents on July 30 in the northern state.
The ecumenical United Christian Forum in New Delhi has recorded 155 cases of violence against Christians in Uttar Pradesh over the last six months. Research states that just 3.56 lakh people in Uttar Pradesh's total population of 19.98 crore identify as Christians.