Police arrived at a house church in Jhabua District’s Padalya village, where Pastor Ramesh Vasuniya was leading a worship service last Sunday, local sources told the U.S.-based International Christian Concern reported. The pastor was allegedly dragged to a police van, and five congregants were reportedly arrested.

In a separate incident in Bisoli village in the same district, police reportedly arrested three Christians, identified only as Pastor Jansingh, Ansingh and Mangu. They were charged with forced conversion. Sources also allege that officers beat the three Christians inside the police station. Upon searching their homes, authorities reportedly confiscated Bibles and a certificate for a Bible course as evidence of “forced” conversion.

Officers were said to have demanded Pastor Jansingh’s wife to pay 300,000 rupees (approximately $4,000), saying she would otherwise never see her husband again. Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014, human rights advocates have warned that attacks on Christians have increased and intensified.

Several Indian states, including Madhya Pradesh, have enacted “anti-conversion” laws, which bans the use of “force,” financial benefits or other forms of allurement to encourage Hindus to convert to Christianity. 

Source: christianpost.com