Let Christians pray, Indian court tells state authorities
Holding of religious prayer is not violative of any law, says Uttar Pradesh top court
Christians have welcomed a court order calling on authorities to approve requests for prayer gatherings in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous Indian state, amid a rise in persecution against Christians.
A two-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court, the top court in the northern state, directed state authorities to “consider” representations from Christians for holding religious prayer meetings and “decide as per the law” after taking opinion from the local police, on June 20.
The judges said that they found that the “holding of religious prayers is not violative of any law that has been shown to us”.
Under the constitution every citizen has a right to practice and perform his faith and religious congregation that is, of course, subject to public order,” they said.
The court asked the petitioners to file fresh applications to the state authorities which they should “consider and decide” as per the law by taking opinion from the local police.
The order came in response to petitions from different Christian groups accusing government officials of denying them permission to hold routine prayer meetings.
“I was forced to approach the top court after the local police did not allow me to hold a prayer meeting on the premises of my legally registered society,” Pastor Sukesh Kumar, one of the petitioners, told UCA News on June 23.
“The risk involved in holding such a prayer meeting without the consent of police is too high as they level false charges of religious conversion,” Kumar said.
It is common for police to arrest and jail prayer leaders and others without bothering with “a preliminary probe,” he said.
Getting bail or quashing the case become tiresome and troublesome, and it takes many years and lot of time and money to get the name cleared, he alleged.
Seeking protection from the top court is “the best way” and Christians are glad the court granted “required relief,” he added.
Pastor Joy Mathew who assists persecuted Christians in the state praised the court order.
“This order allows Christians to challenge government officials when they arbitrarily deny them permission for a prayer gathering,” Mathew told UCA News on June 23.
In most such cases “government officials deny permission on the alleged grounds of religious conversion, law and order problems or disturbing religious harmony among other narrations”, he said.
In reality such allegations are fictious and based on false narratives, he said.
Like other citizens, Christians have the right to practice their religion and pray freely, but they are targeted, he said.
“People might become Christian after they are convinced by the teachings of Christ and it is their personal issue and no one from outside has any role to play,” Mathew said.
The state, ruled by the pro-Hindu Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), registered more than 400 anti-conversion cases against Christians after a draconian law criminalizing conversion was enacted in 2021, he said, adding that “not a single case of conversion was proven.”
The law stipulates up to 20 years imprisonment for violators.
Uttar Pradesh is among 11 states, mostly BJP-governed, that passed similar laws.
About 80 percent of Uttar Pradesh’s more than 200 million people are Hindus while Christians make up less than half a percent.
The state recorded 209 anti-Christian attacks last year, according to ecumenical body, the United Christian Forum.
