“Distributing Bibles does not amount to allurement under UP Freedom of Religion Act,” Allahabad HC while granting bail

In a shocking move, the Allahabad High Court on September 6 granted bail to two accused booked under the Uttar Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act. The court, while granting the bail, observed that distributing the Bible, organising Bhandara, and telling people good things about other religions does not amount to allurement for conversion. The judgment also barred people other than blood relatives of the victim from lodging complaints against organisers of such prayer meetings and conversion gatherings.

A single judge bench of Justice Shamim Ahmad at the Uttar Pradesh High Court’s Lucknow bench passed the order (number–58585) on September 6 granting bail to two accused identified as  Jose Pappochen and Sheeja. They both were booked under the UP Freedom of Religion Act and the Prevention of Atrocities Act for luring Dalits to conversion.

Earlier, a special judge’s SC/ST Act, on March 3, 2023, dismissed the bail application (number–178/2023) as they were booked under the stringent SC-ST as well as the UP Anti Conversion Law. After the bail application was dismissed in the lower court, the applicants moved to the Allahabad High Court.

What says the FIR registered against the culprits?

Organiser accessed the copy of the FIR (number–31/2023) registered at the Jalalpur police station of the Ambedkar Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh on January 24, 2023.

The complainant, who happens to be the Zila Mantri of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Ambedkar Nagar, registered this FIR on behalf of a number of people who converted to Christianity under the influence of the accused.

In his complaint, Chandrika Prasad told the police that the accused, Jose Pappochen and Sheeja have been luring people from the Scheduled Caste community to Chritianty with multiple allurements. They have been doing this for a long time in that area and must be apprehended, as the members of the SC community are annoyed with the repeated attempts of conversion.

After this complaint, the accused were arrested and booked under sections 3 and 5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act and section 3(1)(IV) of the SC-ST Act.

What Prasad told Organiser?

This correspondent called Chandrika Prasad on September 9 and he said, as he comes from a political background he meets multiple people. He had been receiving complaints that hundreds of people had converted to Christianity under the influence of prayer meetings and gatherings in the Shahpur-Firozpur area. All those converted include people from the scheduled caste communities.

Notably, Prasad is himself a Dalit.

He found that the people associated with the Church were distributing the Bible among the Dalits and that many of the locals had converted under their influence. Now these families are not ready to come up. (He did agreed to arrange a call with Organiser of the locals if any of them is ready to speak).

He added, the exact number of convertees is not mentioned in the FIR but many have converted in the region. Now that the court has barred people like us from registering complaints in these cases, this will only facilitate the missionary mafia, he added.

He said the residents where the conversion was going on in the region mostly house people from the Lona Jati who are considered mahadalits.

What says the court order?

During the arguments, the counsel for the appellants, Vishwa Nath Pratap Singh presented before the court that the accused have been falsely framed due to political rivalry and that they had nothing to do with the conversion of the locals.

The counsel referred to the sections of the UP Anti Conversion Law while justifying his arguments and said, Section 3 of the Act, 2021, which provides a prohibition of conversion from one religion to another religion by misrepresentation, force, fraud, undue influence, coercion, and allurement, clearly specifying that conversion on the aforesaid grounds from one religion to another religion is prohibited.

He added, the accused have been falsely framed that they lured people by providing free treatment to the locals in order to get them converted.

The counsel also referred to section 4 of the law which says, “ Person competent to lodge First Information Report-Any aggrieved person, his/her parents, brother, sister, or any other person who is related to him/her by blood, marriage or adoption may lodge a First Information Report of such conversion which contravenes the provisions of Section 3, mentioned in the act”.

The counsel said in front of the bench that the complainant in this case, who is a Zila mantri of the ruling party has no authority to register a complaint against the people, even if they are involved in the conversion.

Readers must know that the accused were also booked under section 5(1) of the act which says, whoever contravenes the provisions of section 3 shall without prejudice to any civil liability, be punished with imprisonment for a term, which shall not be less than one year but extend to five years with liable to fine no less than Rs 50,000.

The counsel referred to the statements of the villagers recorded under section 161 of the CrPC where they have told the court how the accused in this case used to give them good teachings, distributing Holy Bible books, encouraging children to get education, organise assembly of villagers and performing “Bhandara” and instructing the villagers not to enter into altercation and also not to take liquor, which does not account to allurement.

The opposition counsel presented the side of the complainant on behalf of the government, saying, that the accused were alluring people to Christianity using soft measures.

The court, however, believed that the appellants were involved in providing good teachings to children and promoting the spirit of brotherhood among the villagers. But there does not appear to be any material as to show that appellants had used any undue influence or allurement to the said villagers for mass conversion. It said, there is no matter available which would suggest conversion by use of force.

The court also observed that the FIR was not lodged by a competent person in this case, as mentioned in section 4 of the act. It is also believed that the appellants have been falsely implicated in this case under the charges.

The order says, “complainant has no locus to lodge the present F.I.R. as provided under Section 4 of the Act, 2021 and there also appears force in the argument of learned counsel for the appellants that providing good teachings, distributing Holy Bible books, encouraging children to get education, organizing assembly of villagers and performing “Bhandara” and instructing the villagers not to enter into altercations and also not to take liquor do not amount to allurement.”

Accordingly, the court directed that the accused be released on bail.

Cases in Uttar Pradesh where Missionaries have lured people with jobs, money, houses and others

Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur is becoming a hub of missionary conversion, over the past few months as many as seven cases have been reported. In all these cases, FIRs (First Information Reports) have been registered and the victims have stated that they were lured to Christianity and Jesus. The victims had a list of things that were promised upon conversion; from lavishing house to cash money, from a better job to medical treatment, the missionary representatives promised everything.

• As per the FIR (number–163/2023) registered at Nawabganj police station on September 3, Gautam told the police about the illegal conversion going on in the colony. The accused told his father that if he started visiting the Church regularly, he could get rid of all his problems. For this he just needs to become Christian, as soon as he becomes a Christian, he will get Rs 50,000 from the Church, a house to live and the Church will bear all his medical expenses.
• In June 2023, Organiser reported a case from the Epifani School in Kanpur Nagar where a so-called medical camp was organised and in the name of treatment, people were lured to Christianity. On June 24, Narendra Parmar, a resident of the civil lines area of Kanpur registered an FIR (number–73/2023 at the Colonelganj police station on June 25) against the organisers of the event at Colonelganj police station. In his complaint, Parmar told the police that, on June 24 one of his friends Shivam informed him about a medical event to be organised at Epifany School near Apollo Hospital in the Chunniganj area. The organisers promised that they could cure any disease. They also promised all the expenses from food to travel would be covered by the managers.
• A Hindu woman named Babli Devi gave an FIR (number–72/2023) at the Kohna police station of the Kanpur district on August 10, 2023. She alleged that people living in their colony have been luring innocent Hindus to Christianity in exchange for money. They offer a sum of Rs 10,000 each in order to convert them. Earlier they were targeting other people but when they contacted Babli’s family, she informed the police.
• In March 2023, a similar case was reported at the Ravatpur police station of the Kanpur district. Referring to a viral video, the complainant, Vikas Kumar Gupta accused a man of illegal conversion. This unidentified man from Punjab came to Kanpur, in order to treat a man identified as Neeraj who was an alcoholic. The man performed some customs and chanted sermons. After his treatment the man presented Neeraj as an example and said, Those who do not believe in Jesus will suffer like him. If they start believing in Christianity, they will not have to see a day like this in this life. Based on this FIR (number- 99/2023 registered at the Ravatpur police station of the Kanpur district) the accused identified in the viral video was booked under sections 3 and 5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act.
• In November 2022, a man accused the pastor and his accomplice of luring him to Christianity against money and the promise of marriage. As per the FIR (number-584/2023) registered at the Ghatampur police station on November 7, 2022, the complainant Ishu Awasthi accused four people of illegally converting Hindus to Christianity. As per the complaint, On October 31, the pastor Prakash Sonare and accomplice Rajesh Sankhwar asked him to convert to Christianity. Upon conversion, he will start getting a fixed amount as a monthly salary and the pastors will make sure that he also gets a wife. The pastor is not alone to do this in the area, he is joined by his wife and others. All of them trap innocent Hindus with such promises and get them converted.
• The Kanpur police raided a Church in Ghatampur where they found religious texts in large numbers. These texts confirmed that the Church was involved in illegal conversion activities of students from primary to college level. Based on these findings the police also registered an FIR at the Ghatampur police station. During the police raid in the church located in Jawahar Nagar, the police found books titled God’s Identity, God is Good, Nigeria’s Light, Good Quality. These books are available for primary to fifth-grade students, while some books have been prepared for students from junior high school to degree college. The police also found a register from the Church, in which the police found evidence of foreign funding.
• In a case from the Chakeri Shyam Nagar police station, Kanpur, a Korean man was booked for illegally running a conversion syndicate in the city. In two and a half years, his gang converted hundreds of people to Christianity. The syndicate was exposed on March 4, 2023. This is how the syndicate worked; For example, one person who has recently converted was asked to bring two people to the conversion class. Now both of them were given the responsibility of bringing other people. In the same way, the whole chain becomes erect. Whatever comes through whose network. Their name was registered on their respective account only. As a rule, money was given to bring every person. The more people in the chain, the more monthly salary and facilities the person would get.
• On August 20, the native Hindus of the Sukrauli Bazar area in the Kushinagar district of Uttar Pradesh gathered for a Catholic Prayer meeting. The Hindus complained that they were being bribed and manipulated to convert at these prayer meetings. Copies of the Bible were distributed, houses and accommodations were promised to many, and much more. A First Information Report (number–547/2023) was registered at the Hata Police Station of the Kushinagar district on August 20 by Suresh Gupta, head of the VHM Kushinagar.
• On August 22, the native Hindus (mostly women) of the Mathauli village of Kushinagar district were present at the meeting. The pastor told people about Jesus and distributed a Bible and cross locket. Such meetings had been taking place for almost one and a half years now.  The August 22 meeting created a ruckus as the members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad tried to convince the women to return home as the pastor was brainwashing them. A First Information Report (number–373/2023) was registered at the Kaptanganj police station of the Kushinagar district on August 22 by Omkar Sharma, the district VHP head.

These cases are some among many which have been registered in Uttar Pradesh over the past few years. Readers must note that many of these cases either go unreported or in many instances unchecked. There is no way to track the people involved in these cases as prayer meetings these days take place in one’s house, which the Missionary people call a temporary ‘Church’.

A ruling like this given by the High Court is only going to facilitate the perpetrators. The very law which was made to curb and control illegal conversions in the state seems insufficient to contain the crimes. A case and a judgement like this, calls for amendments in the UP Anti Conversion Law.