Prime Minister Narendra Modi (center) and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (center, left) greet supporters at a function in Varanasi on Feb. 23. Eleven states, most of them ruled by Modi’s pro-Hindu party, have enacted the draconian anti-conversion law. (Photo: AFP)
Two Christians were arrested on Easter Sunday in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh for allegedly violating the state’s sweeping anti-conversion law, media reports said.
Police on March 31 intercepted two buses with 110 passengers, traveling from Kanpur to Unnao. They were allegedly heading for an event where a religious conversion event was taking place, according to the Times of India newspaper.
Two people were arrested on charges of violating the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act 2021, media reports said.
Mahesh Kumar, assistant commissioner of police, said the accused - Simon Williams and Deepak Morris - promised 50,000 rupees (some US$600) each to the passengers if they embraced Christianity.
Activists of the right-wing Hindu group Bajrang Dal alerted the police and the buses were intercepted.
"Apart from cash, they were assured jobs. The unmarried people were promised help in finding partners," Kumar added.
Williams and Morris were arrested based on a complaint by Sunil Balmiki, one of the passengers who filed a complaint.
“We are closely monitoring the case” of Williams and Morris, Christian activist Minakshi Singh told UCA News on April 2.
Singh, general secretary of Unity in Compassion, a charity based in Uttar Pradesh, said that “it is too early to say anything.”
The anti-conversion legislation is often misused to arrest Christians, Pastor Dinesh Kumar told UCA News on April 2.
The law makes religious conversions, done without government approval, a non-bailable offense with up to 10 years of jail term.
The law also bans conversion through misinformation, allurement or other fraudulent means.
Eleven states, most of them ruled by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have enacted such anti-conversion laws.
In January 2023, the National Federation of Indian Women challenged the anti-conversion laws of eight states as being arbitrary, unconstitutional and allowing state intrusion into private lives.
Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, recorded 36 incidents of violence against Christians up to March 15 this year, said the United Christian Forum, an ecumenical body that tracks persecution against Christians in India.
Christians make up a mere 0.18 percent of Uttar Pradesh’s 200 million population.
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