India targets 22 Christian women in religious conversion case
Church leaders fear Maharashtra's new anti-conversion law could deepen harassment of Christians after police opened case against women accused of offering religious books to a student
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — Police in India’s Maharashtra state have filed a criminal case against 22 Christian women over accusations that they attempted to convert an 18-year-old student, fueling fears among church leaders as a stringent new state law regulating religious conversions takes effect Friday.
The criminal case was registered Aug. 25, three days before the new law took effect, according to United News of India.
The allegations stem from an Aug. 21 visit by the Christian women to the student’s home in Wakadpada village in Palghar, a predominantly tribal district in the western Indian state.
Police said one of the women, 46-year-old Satyavati Balkrishna Kunche, offered the student religious literature, including copies of the Bible, and allegedly told him that reading the books could help cure illnesses and protect people from disease.
The student refused the books and informed villagers, according to the police account.
Some villagers who subsequently arrived at the home accused Kunche of making derogatory remarks about Hindu gods, goddesses and religious practices.
Police named Kunche and local resident Kusum Shivram Kambdi as the main suspects and invoked provisions of India’s criminal law dealing with hurting religious sentiments and other offenses.
No arrests have been made. All 22 women, many of whom had traveled from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, were released while police continued their investigation.
The case has heightened apprehension among Christians because of its timing, coming immediately before Maharashtra begins enforcing its new anti-conversion legislation.
“If this is the situation now, what will happen once the new law comes into effect?” Bishop Emeritus Mar Thomas Elavanal of the Catholic Diocese of Kalyan said.
Elavanal said the Catholic Church does not support conversions carried out through force but stressed that India’s Constitution guarantees citizens the right to profess and propagate their religion.
“Christians in the state should be ready to face challenges,” he said.
Christian organizations have long expressed concern that laws ostensibly intended to prevent conversions through force or fraud can expose ordinary religious activities to criminal complaints when Hindu nationalist groups characterize them as attempts at conversion.
Joseph Dias, founder of the Catholic Secular Forum, said the Palghar case was “deeply worrying” and warned that Christians could face harassment because of their faith.
Dias said his organization did not oppose laws against genuinely forced or fraudulent conversions but questioned why Maharashtra needed additional legislation when existing criminal laws could already be used against such conduct.
Maharashtra is among 13 Indian states that have enacted or adopted laws restricting religious conversions. Many of those states are governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
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