ICC Note: In Uttar Pradesh state, Hindu extremist have begun disturbing worship meetings and churches, arresting pastors and Christians causing Christians to flee their homes. These attacks and arrest began after a false media reports went viral in July, of fraudulent conversions Hindus in the area. In the last few weeks Christians have been targeted in over five cases and over 12 pastors have gone into hiding due to the threat on their lives.  

09/18/2018 India (Morning Star News) – Under the influence of Hindu extremists, police and media campaigns against Christians in Uttar Pradesh state, India have mushroomed since one such attack sent a pastor into hiding last month, sources said.

After false media reports of large-scale, fraudulent conversions of Hindus by pastor Durga Prasad Yadav in Jaunpur District went viral in July, followed by false police charges, there have been multiple area reports of disrupted worship meetings, pastors and evangelists arrested and Christian leaders fleeing their homes to avoid arrest, sources said.

Pastor Yadav is a resident of Bhulandih village. On Sunday (Sept. 16), Jaunpur Police blocked all roads to Bhulandih village, keeping worshippers from Bhulandih Church, sources said. “They have stopped believers and asked them to go back home,” a source said. “Hindu extremist groups are shouting anti-Christian slogans around the churches in many places in Jaunpur. They are threatening believers with severe consequences and asking every believer as to how much money he has been given to convert.”

Christians have been targeted in at least five cases, four of them Jaunpur and one in Pratapgarh District, 58 miles away. Four of the cases erupted on Thursday (Sept. 13).

At least 12 pastors have gone into hiding since then, a source unnamed for security reasons told Morning Star News. Pastor Yadav also remains in hiding, but attendance at his church’s worship services has nearly doubled since Hindu extremists began targeting him and others using state and media machinery, sources said.

Those detained by police told Morning Star News that police are bombarding them with questions, asking them where they got money to carry out conversion activities and ordering them to list all pastors and other church leaders in the area, the sources said.

“Picking up pastors and Christian leaders after midnight, keeping them in police custody for 24 hours, is a technique to mentally harass them and to instill fear in them,” a source told Morning Star News.

A police officer at the Chandwak police station has been suspended and an investigation begun against him because he failed to act against area Christians sooner, according to local newspaper reports.

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