3 Nepalese Christians jailed for evangelizing in India

Three Nepalese citizens were arrested and jailed in India last week after they were accused of spreading Christianity and insulting Hindu gods.

According to Times of India, Indra Bahadur Tamad, Shukra Rai and Mekh Bahadur were charged under IPC Section 295A or "deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs."

The three Christians reportedly arrived in Shahjahanpur city on Sunday and started distributing literature related to Christianity.

On Wednesday, the Christians reportedly got into an argument with local Hindu men while they were addressing a crowd. Ravi Prakash Dikshit and Vimal Pandey filed a complaint against the three Christians, alleging that they had used objectionable language to describe Hindu gods. Other witnesses, however, said that the three Nepalese citizens were innocent.

"The three of them are innocent and were only sharing the teachings of the Bible. A group of Christians come here every year and do the same, but such an incident has never happened before. They never uttered a single word against any god or goddess," said a resident who wished not to be named.

Rajendra Saluja, who is in charge of the local intelligence unit in Shashjahanpur, said that police have found religious text in the possession of the three Nepalese Christians, but they still have not found any credible evidence against them.

He noted that Nepalese nationals can be arrested in India just like any Indian national as they are not required to present a passport and visa to enter the country. In the event that the Nepalese citizens are sentenced for a crime, Indian authorities will be bound to inform the Nepal high commission, Saluja said.

Persecution watchdog group Open Doors has ranked India in the 2018 World Watch List as the 11th worst country in the world when it comes to persecution of Christians.

According to Open Doors, there were 23,793 Christians that were physically or mentally abused in India last year, more than the number of Christians abused in all the other countries of the World Watch List put together.

In the first half of 2017, there were 410 reported incidents of harassment, threats or attacks against Christians, almost as many as the total for the whole of 2016, when there were 441 incidents.

The latest attacks against Christians came in December when seven pastors were arrested in northern India after they were accused of forcible conversion in the Uttar Pradesh state.

In Chhattisgarh state, two pastors were reportedly beaten by Hindu extremists in November for spreading Christianity at a Gospel meeting.

"Pastor Vijay Jogi and Pastor Santosh Rao were receiving the people at the entrance," Pastor Amnos James said about the meeting.

"Suddenly a mob of 70 Hindu Dharm Sena and Bajrang Dal activists gheraoed (encircled) the entrance, and Pastor Jogi and Pastor Rao were beaten and summoned to the police station," he added.

Meanwhile, Nepal has also been included on the World Watch List this year due to the sharp increase in persecution of Christians. In 2017, Nepal passed a law that banned religious conversions, prompting concerns that it will be used against Christians to settle personal scores.