Indian court jails first Christians under anti-conversion law
Christian leaders say judgment will not stand as an actual conversion was not proven
Updated: January 23, 2025 12:07 PM GMT
In a first in India, a court has jailed a Christian couple for five years for attempting to convert people in a northern state, considered a hotbed of anti-Christian activities.
A special court in Uttar Pradesh’s Ambedkar Nagar district, which deals with crimes against socially poor castes, convicted Pastor Jose Pappachan and his wife, Sheeja Pappachan on Jan.22. They were sentenced to five years imprisonment and each fined 25,000 rupees (US$300).
“This is the first time we have encountered such a sentence for a suspected conversion attempt,” said A. C. Michael, a Christian leader who monitors anti-Christian activities in the country.
He said the verdict and punishment “for a suspected attempt to convert will not stand the scrutiny of a higher court.”
An attempt to convert is “not a recognized crime under the law,” Michael said.
Pastor Joy Mathew, who has been assisting the couple, said the judgment was “biased.”
“We will challenge it in the High Court, the top court in the state,” Mathew told UCA News on Jan. 23.
“There was no evidence on record to substantiate the conversion charges, but still, they were convicted,” he said.
“This is bad in law” if people can be convicted “merely based on unsubstantiated statements from those listed as witnesses,” the pastor said.
The couple was convicted and accused of violating the law that restricts conversion — the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act 2021. The law was amended in 2024, making it harsher with a provision for a life sentence in case of certain violations.
An official of the Hindu-leaning Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which runs the state government, filed a complaint against the couple in January 2023, accusing them of engaging in the religious conversion of people from tribal and socially poor Dalit backgrounds.
The couple denied the charge, arguing that they were providing education to children and helping people stop drinking alcohol and quarreling among themselves.
The couple had spent eight months in prison until they were granted bail by the Allahabad High Court last September.
In its bail ruling, the High Court said that distributing Bibles, educating children, or performing acts of public charity do not amount to attempting to commit religious conversion.
“Providing good teachings, distributing the Holy Bible, encouraging children to get an education, organizing assemblies of villagers and conducting bhandaras [community meals], instructing villagers not to argue and also not drink liquor does not amount to allurement,” the court said.
The court also questioned the complainant’s ability to bring the case to court. According to the 2021 law, only an aggrieved person or their blood relative could file a complaint of forced conversion. However, the amended law made it possible for a third party to complain.
The state recorded 209 anti-Christian incidents in 2024, the highest in any Indian state, according to the New Delhi-based United Christian Forum (UCF), which tracks violence against Christians across the country.
At least 70 Christians, including pastors, are in prison in the state for allegedly violating the stringent anti-conversion law.
Uttar Pradesh is India’s most populous state, with 200 million people, 80 percent of them Hindus. Christians make up a mere 0.18 percent of the population, while Muslims make up 19 percent.
