India— A Christian evangelist couple in India was convicted on Jan. 22 for the mass conversion of Dalit community members under Uttar Pradesh’s anti-conversion law. This is the first time that such a conviction has occurred in India. The convicted couple was deemed culpable under section 3/5 of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act.

The couple, Pastor Jose Pappachan and his wife Sheeja Pappachan, were found guilty of forced religious conversions and were sentenced to five years of imprisonment with a fine of Rs 25,000 each (about USD 300). A special court in the Ambedkar Nagar district known for redressing offenses against socially disadvantaged castes like the Dalits convicted the Christian couple.

The term Dalit, which is Sanskrit for “broken/scattered,” is used for “untouchables” or outcasts who represent the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent and refers to any member of a wide range of social groups that are marginalized in Hindu caste society. Legally, they are also known as scheduled castes.

Dalits are socially, economically, and historically marginalized communities predominantly in India. Traditionally, the Dalits have easily embraced Christianity to escape the repressive caste system.

A Dalit activist, Dr. Chandrika Prasad, who is also a local leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh, had filed a complaint against the evangelist couple on Jan. 18, 2023.
Pastor Pappachan was imprisoned on the same day, while his spouse was incarcerated on Jan. 22, 2023.

In his complaint, the BJP leader alleged that the evangelists were proselytizing among the Dalit community in Ambedkar district’s Shahpur Firoz area for several months in 2022 before their arrest in January 2023. They had even assembled a sizable Dalit population to perform mass conversions on Dec. 25, 2022.

It was alleged that they attempted to persuade poor families to become Christians by offering them various things for nearly three months. The complaint stated that the couple’s actions offended people and hurt members of the Dalit community.
Though the couple was out on bail, they have been incarcerated following the verdict.

Following the written complaint, police interviewed several witnesses, many of whom were illiterate, and recorded their statements, claiming they were subjected to forced conversions along with allurement to convert.

A chargesheet containing statements from nearly 10 witnesses, including police officers to back the accusations, was submitted to the court for cognizance.

However, a study of the court judgment reveals that apart from the statements made by some of the alleged victims, no concrete defense evidence was submitted to prove the charges of being forced to convert or given allurement to convert. The only evidence submitted included a few Bibles and some Christian literature.

During the hearings, the couple struggled to answer why they came from their hometown in Madhya Pradesh to Uttar Pradesh. It was inferred that they came purely for conversion activities. The couple denied all of the charges.

“The police forms in the file and the prosecution’s examination of the testimony attest to the incident, and the accused committed a very serious crime. Therefore, the accused should be convicted,” the court pronounced.

Christian activists and lawyers are now fearing that this judgment could set a dangerous precedent for cases of hundreds of pastors and Christians who have been arrested in Uttar Pradesh under the anti-conversion laws.
Sources:persecution

http://theendtimeradio.com