Source: www.barnabasfund.org
Date: February 2, 2021
Nine Indian Christians arrested under newly-tightened anti-conversion regulations in Madhya Pradesh State are to seek bail from the state’s High Court after bail was denied by a trial court on 27 January.
The judge at the court in Indore city rejected the bail application saying it did not seem “appropriate”. The Christians were arrested on 26 January after a mob of more than 100 Hindu extremists invaded a prayer meeting at a church media centre in Indore and accused them of conducting religious conversions.
A church service in India. Christians in India comprise nearly 4% of the population
A pastor providing legal help to the detained Christians said they are now “left with no other option than moving to the High Court” for bail. “We will fight the case legally as much as possible and leave the rest to God to decide,” said the pastor, adding, “The truth will triumph”.
A Church spokesman denied allegations of “unlawful conversion” at the prayer meeting. He said the mob invasion “terrorised the Christians” and appeared to arise as “fallout” from the new Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Ordinance issued on 9 January.
He continued, “When such a one-sided law is there … the innocent person will bear the brunt.”
The new ordinance prohibits, “conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation allurement, use of threat or force, undue influence, coercion, marriage or any fraudulent means.”