By TCN News:
New Delhi: In this month, September 2018, this district of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh has witnessed 12 incidents of violence against Christians. The Pastors were woken up in the middle of the night and arrested on false allegations of fraudulent conversions. The roads connecting to Churches are blocked and the believers are stopped from going to Church. The Police is forcing them to go back home.
Other pastors who have not yet been arrested are being threatened and not allowed to conduct service in the Church.
Tehmina Arora and A C Michael of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) which is an international group for protecting religious freedom, in their press release have stated that these attacks are being carried out due to the flase propoganda circulating from media houses like Zee News and Dainik Jagran. These media houses have carried false news that Hinuds of Janupur are being converted to Christianity by these churches in their news channels and newspaper.
The ADF have said that those villagers who converted to Christinaity have spoken to the news channels wherein they have said their conversion is voluntary and that their life has changed for the better after converting to christianity. And that their prayers are being answered and many have even been cured of disesases after converting to Christianity.
However the instigated mobs ignored these claims by the villagers and went on an attacking spree on different churches across Jaunpur with the police in tow arresting the pastors and other christians.
Sequence of attacks on christians in Jaunpur:
On 5th Sept, Pastor Durga Prasad and 270 were arrested by the police;
11th Sept The police arrested Pastor Rajendra Chouhan’s along with Ratnesh Kumar, Manoj Kumar Chauhan, Jiyalal Murli and 3 other co-workers under pressure from extremists. They were released on bail on 14th Sept.
On 13th Sept itself 4 incidents came to light in which Pastor Gulabchand was taken into custody along with 3 other Church leaders. He was released on 14 September 2018 without any complaint against him. On the same day Pastor Ravindra was attacked by a mob of religious fanatics when he was conducting Friday fasing prayer in the church.
And in another church on the same day The brother of the head of the village Panchayat beats up the Church leader, Mr. Ram Milan, and forces him to stop the prayer meeting. And the 4th incident Pastor Ram Ratan and another Pastor Thomas Osoof from Mumbai were taken into custody by the police and the prayers service disrupted.
16th Sept: The police team blocked all the roads connecting to Bhulandih church and asked the Sunday Church goers to go back home. Deepak, Rahul, Chandrabhushan, Rajendra and Virendra belonging to Bhulandih Church were arrested on 16th Sept and released on bail on 19 September 2018.
In another incident on 16th Sept Pastor Anil Kumar, Praduman, Deepak Kumar, Monu and Ravinder were arrested by police in the middle of church service. They were released on bail on 18 September 2018.
23rd Sept: A mob of religious fanatics accompanied by the local police went around the village shouting slogans and then entered the Church disrupting the Sunday service. Pastor Ashok Rajbhar, his father and 3 more of Church members were taken into custody. Later father was let go.
Another pastor conducting Sunday service was arrested while Pastor Chabilal who was conducting Sunday service was also arrested on the same day – 23rd September.
And on the 24th of Sept the police asked Pastor Nanhe Lal to close down the Church.
Tehmina Arora of ADF told TwoCircles.net, ” We are preparing bail applications for the innocents arrested and also filing cases to protect our right to freedom of religion. In this case we are both the victims and the accused.”
” The constitution protects the freedom of conscience and the right to practise the religion of one’s choice. No one should be taregeted for practising their faith.” She added.
Jaunpur is the district headquarters located to the northwest of the district of Varanasi in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh with population density of 1,113 people per km. There are 88.03% Hindus, 11.94% Muslims, 0.11% Christians, 0.03% Sikhs and 0.51% others including Bodh and Jains.