ROME – In the latest signs of what critics have long described as a worsening climate for religious minorities in India under a Hindu nationalist government, several Protestants, including two U.S. nationals, and a Catholic priest were arrested in separate incidents in part of the country’s controversial anti-controversy agenda. -conversion laws.
In the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, Father Dominic Pinto of the diocese of Lucknow was arrested on February 5 with six Protestants, accused of trying to convert poor Dalits, or “untouchables.” “, from Hinduism to Christianity, while they were in Assam, in the far northeast of the country. In India, two American Baptists were fined on February 2 for engaging in religious activities that violated the terms of their tourist visas.
The Americans, named John Matthew Bone and Michael James Flinchum, were not arrested but fined $500. Pinto, meanwhile, and his fellow Protestants remain in detention pending a request for bail.
According to local media, Pinto is the director of the Navintha pastoral center in the Lucknow diocese, which he had agreed to make available to a group called Khrist Bhaktsor “followers of Christ,” composed of Hindus, Muslims, and members of other religions who nevertheless find inspiration in Christ and pray to him.
Sources said that while the meeting of around 200 people was taking place, a group of Hindu activists tried to disrupt the gathering and later staged a protest outside the local police station, accusing the meeting of targeting poor Hindus , especially women and children, to convert them. .
Police officers arrived at the pastoral center and broke up the meeting, taking several people into custody.
Hindu protesters demanded that Pinto’s name be included in the complaint filed against police, on the grounds that he was responsible for authorizing the meeting, although a diocesan spokesperson later said he did not. He wasn’t even present.
Ultimately, Pinto and six others, including five Protestant pastors who attended the meeting, were arrested and detained. They face charges under Uttar Pradesh’s anti-conversion law and, if found guilty, could face up to ten years in prison.
According to Bishop Gerald Mathias of Lucknow, the Hindu protesters belonged to the right-wing nationalist group. Vishva Hindu Parishad or its young wing, Bajrang Dal. He called accusations that the meeting was engaged in conversion “totally false.”
“There were no conversions,” Mathias said. Node.
“This is a blatant abuse of the state’s draconian anti-conversion law,” Mathias said. “The police registered a case without any evidence or proof of conversion. They are pressured by the crowd or succumb to the dictates of their superiors. This is a typical case of harassment and atrocities against Christians.
“We are sincerely praying and working to obtain bail as soon as possible,” Mathias said. “I hope and pray that justice and common sense prevail.”
Meanwhile, in Assam, the two American Baptists remain at large, having been warned not to engage in further religious activities.
According to police, Boone and Flinchum came to India on an e-tourist visa and went to the town of Tezpur in Assam state to attend the January 31 blessing of a new extension from a Baptist hospital for which they had helped raise funds. .
Hindu activists accused the two men of engaging in religious preaching on the Baptist Christian Hospital campus, leading police to question Boone and Flinchum the next day about their activities.
“They were on tourist visas and as per the provisions, they cannot carry out religious activities or propagate religious ideologies. So we called them to the police station and fined them $500 each,” a local police official told media.
Although no formal case was registered, the Foreign Office was informed of the incident and the two Americans were warned against further participation in religious functions.
“A Baptist association had organized a building inauguration ceremony in Tezpur, and Baptist leaders from different parts of Assam had gathered there. The two American nationals were also present. The building itself is incomplete, half-finished, so we have to say that they had come for transformation activities,” the police official said.
“As they were in the country on tourist visas, they cannot participate in any religious meetings,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Assam Baptist group said that although Flinchum had spoken at the inauguration of the hospital expansion, there had been no proselytizing.
“He expressed his joy at seeing the new building,” the spokesperson said. “All the participants were Christians. There was no religious content in the preaching.
The local Catholic prelate, Archbishop John Moolachira of Guwahati, expressed solidarity with the Baptist group.
“This is harassment against Christian institutions and it seems that the government machinery wants to instill fear in the minds of Christians,” Moolachira said. Node.
Moolachira made the comments while he was out of the diocese attending a plenary meeting of the All India Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
“Even though I am in Bangalore, I sympathize with the victims and our Baptist friends,” he said. “This is not the first case of harassment against Christian tourists visiting Assam.”
Moolachira’s reference was likely to the fact that in October 2022, seven Germans and three Swedish citizens were arrested on similar charges, accused of allegedly flouting visa norms by engaging in missionary activities.
Open Doors International, a Protestant watchdog group that tracks anti-Christian persecution around the world, currently ranks India 11th.th most dangerous nation for Christians, asserting that “Christians throughout the Indian nation find themselves increasingly threatened.”
“This hostility is often driven by a persistent belief among some Hindu extremists that Indians should be Hindus – and any faith outside of Hinduism is not welcome in India,” the group reported.
