India: Six Christian women arrested

Please pray for six Christian women from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh State, India, who have been arrested after they were accused of trying to force people to become Christians. There are laws in several Indian states that make forcing or bribing people to change their religion (and leave Hinduism) illegal. The laws are a reaction to growing numbers of Christians and are often used to falsely accuse those who dare to share their faith and beliefs with others.

The women were arrested on 30 July during a birthday party, attended by around 100 other Christians.

However, 15 members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a local Hindu extremist group, reacted badly to such a large gathering of Christians. They barged into the party and began recording the guests, taking their Bibles and songbooks away from them and accusing them of forcibly converting people. They then went to the local police station to file a complaint against the believers, using the Bibles and Christian literature they’d taken as proof of their accusations.

Police then arrested the six women, most of whom are financially very poor.

Denied bail

Munish Chandra, the lawyer representing the women, told The Wire, “The ground reality is that people are being targeted by right-wing fanatic organisations being backed by the government to gain popularity or benefit politically.

“The women were at their home celebrating a birthday,” Chandra continues. “When they were praying, members of the VHP lodged a complaint against the women. They were taken to the station at 2pm; however, in the police diary, it states that the women were taken in at 6 pm. We tried for their bail; however, the lower court did not have the powers to give the women the bail. We feel that it was because of political pressure that the women were not given bail.

“One of the women is handicapped, one of the women’s sons is differently-abled and the rest of their families are suffering enormously since they are all dependent on the women,” he added.

More and more Christians harassed by anti-conversion laws

More and more Indian Christians are being targeted through anti-conversion laws, which have now been passed in eleven states – and that number is likely to increase. The laws are in place supposedly to protect Hindus from forced conversion, but more and more Christians are finding themselves accused of forcibly converting others – even when there’s no proof.

The driving force behind this is Hindutva, an ideology that disregards Indian Christians and other religious minorities as true Indians because they have allegiances that supposedly lie outside India, and asserts the country should be purified of their presence.

Please pray for these six women and their families, that they will be released quickly, and that their court case will be conducted fairly and with compassion.