UDAIPUR, India \u2014 Nine Catholics have been behind bars for more than two weeks after parishioners chased out more than a dozen people who barged into a village church during Mass, shouting accusations of conversion, in a remote village in India\u02bcs desert state of Rajasthan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel frustrated that our people were denied bail a second time today on the false allegation of conversion,\u201d Bishop Devprasad John Ganawa of Udaipur, a Divine Word missionary, told EWTN News on May 12.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the hooligans disrupted the Mass on May 1 shouting \u2018conversion,\u2019 our people forced them out. Instead of registering a criminal case against the intruders, the police have charged our people with \u2018conversion and attempt to murder\u2019 and arrested nine Catholics of Bandaria Parish,\u201d Ganawa explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was saying the evening Mass at the substation of my parish at Kalinjara village when the incident happened,\u201d Father Arvind Amliyar recounted to EWTN News.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the Communion time over a dozen people stormed into the church, shouted \u2018conversion,\u2019 and started filming with cameras. When one of them took out a knife, our people snatched it and chased them out,\u201d Amliyar said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSoon police came and what happened then shocked me. Instead of finding out what had happened, they arrested four Catholics the same night,\u201d the priest said.<\/p>\n
A Hindu mob then staged a protest outside the police station and demanded action against the parishioners, according to Amliyar. Police turned away Catholics who went to them twice, including at midnight the same day and the next day, refusing to register their complaint.<\/p>\n
Police came knocking on May 4 at 2:30 a.m. and arrested five more parishioners, including Anil Rawat, 70, a retired headmaster of a government school who now runs a private school in the village.<\/p>\n
The local magistrate court rejected the parishioners’ bail application the next day, as they were charged with \u201cserious crimes\u201d: conversion and attempted murder. Church lawyers then moved the case to the Banswara district court, which denied bail again on May 12.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, we have to go to the High Court with senior lawyers,\u201d Amliyar said of the challenging situation facing the village church, which serves about 70 Catholic families. About 70 people were attending Mass when the intruders stormed in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot understand what is going on. The police bluntly refused to register the complaint of our people and have filed a serious charge of conversion against our people and imprisoned them,\u201d Ganawa said of the first case of alleged conversion in Udaipur Diocese, where he has served as bishop for 13 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is another typical case of the widespread abuse of anti-conversion laws against Christians in several states, most of them ruled by the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party],\u201d A.C. Michael, a Catholic and national coordinator of the United Christian Forum, which monitors atrocities against Christians, told EWTN News from New Delhi.<\/p>\n
Under the Indian criminal system, the burden of proof lies with the prosecution. However, under recently enacted or amended anti-conversion laws, Michael said, the burden of disproving the charge of conversion is shifted to the accused, making it difficult for defendants to secure bail from trial courts quickly, even in fraudulent cases.<\/p>\n
Under the Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, enacted in 2025, the burden of disproving the allegation of conversion falls on the accused.<\/p>\n
As a result, Michael said, hundreds of Christians are languishing in jails in BJP-ruled states while protracted legal challenges drag on in higher courts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe shocking reality is that there has been hardly any conviction in so-called conversion cases. That is why the churches and Christian groups have moved the Supreme Court for abolishing the anti-conversion laws that have been reduced to a tool to harass minorities,\u201d Michael said.<\/p>\n
He noted that the Supreme Court in May 2024 observed that certain provisions in anti-conversion laws may be in violation of Article 25 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees the right to freely profess, practice, and propagate one\u02bcs religion.<\/p>\n
The Feb. 4\u201310 biennial assembly of more than 200 bishops in India in Bangalore also reiterated this concern in its final statement: \u201cAs many innocent individuals are incarcerated based on unfounded allegations of forceful religious conversions, we strongly demand the repealing of legislations which are inconsistent with religious freedom and right to privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UDAIPUR, India \u2014 Nine Catholics have been behind bars for more than two weeks after parishioners chased out more than a dozen people who barged into a village church during Mass, shouting accusations of conversion, in a remote village in India\u02bcs desert state of Rajasthan. \u201cWe feel frustrated that our people were denied bail a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":49599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"bron":[41],"class_list":["post-49598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nieuws","bron-cna"],"acf":[],"featured_image_urls":{"medium":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/49598-indian-catholics-denied-bail-after-confronting-mob-that-disrupted-mass-300x200.jpg","large":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/49598-indian-catholics-denied-bail-after-confronting-mob-that-disrupted-mass-1024x682.jpg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/49598-indian-catholics-denied-bail-after-confronting-mob-that-disrupted-mass-150x150.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/49598-indian-catholics-denied-bail-after-confronting-mob-that-disrupted-mass-768x512.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/49598-indian-catholics-denied-bail-after-confronting-mob-that-disrupted-mass-1536x1023.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/49598-indian-catholics-denied-bail-after-confronting-mob-that-disrupted-mass-2048x1365.jpg","Inhoud breed":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/49598-indian-catholics-denied-bail-after-confronting-mob-that-disrupted-mass-860x573.jpg","echo_preview_image":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/49598-indian-catholics-denied-bail-after-confronting-mob-that-disrupted-mass-219x146.jpg"},"appp_media":null,"yoast_head":"\n