by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - A pastor in India’s Madhya Pradesh state spent three tortuous weeks in a harsh prison earlier this year after being falsely accused of forcing Hindus to become Christians, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
On Feb. 3 this year, Pastor Josemon Pathrose of Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh was in Jalaun District visiting a family who attended his online church meeting when members of the Hindu extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad stormed into the home and accused him forcing Hindus into Christianity, MSN reports.
The extremists called the police who arrived and arrested Pathrose and two Christians he had been traveling to a trade fair with. The police also seized the pastor’s vehicle, and Bibles and other Christian literature he had with him: Pathrose runs a small Christian bookshop in Gwalior and was taking the materials to the fair.
In a statement to MSN, Pathrose said the police slapped him and his companions as they questioned them. “They called me the leader of the ‘conversion racket’ and beat me more than my friend,” he said.
“When the police came to arrest me, I was not preaching, nor carrying a Bible,” Pathrose added. “My Bibles and literature were in my truck. Is it a crime to carry your own religious texts in your vehicle? It was evident they had orders from authorities not to spare any Christian. They had no reason to arrest us, so reasons were being formulated during our interrogation. We were assaulted and interrogated, almost forcing us to say something that would give them a reason to file a case against us.”
The Christians were brought before the Jalaun Junior court, which rejected their bail application and sent them to prison pending an appeal, MSN reports. After a lengthy ordeal, the believers eventually were granted conditional bail by the Orai District Court. The pastor said his experience in jail included “bullying, extortion and mental torture.”
Led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party for nearly 20 years, India ranks 11 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.