by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
NAINITAL, INDIA (Worthy News) – A Christian pastor has become the first person to be acquitted under the “anti-conversion” law of India’s state of Uttarakhand after a four-year legal battle, Christian sources confirmed Thursday.
Judicial Magistrate Anju of the Ramnagar Court in Nainital District acquitted Pastor Nandan Singh Bisht, also known as Narendra Singh, on September 17 of all charges filed under the Uttarakhand Religious Freedom Act, 2018.
“It was the first such acquittal since the legislation came into force in 2018,” said Rajesh Kumar, a friend of the pastor. “Pastor Bisht was the first Christian arrested in Uttarakhand under the law four years ago.”
Bisht’s ordeal began in October 2021, when Hindu villagers stormed a prayer meeting at his home in Baida Jhal village. “They tore all the posters with Bible verses and four Bibles, threw all our songbooks, and broke all the things inside the prayer hall,” Bisht told Morning Star News.
Instead of prosecuting the intruders, police detained Bisht, his wife, and their three-year-old daughter, later filing charges that he tried to convert locals through “allurement.” The pastor spent eight days in custody before being granted bail.
COURT RULING
After years of hearings, the court concluded that complainant Jagdish Chandra lacked legal standing under the statute and that witnesses failed to identify any victims of forced or induced conversion.
The 16-page judgment emphasized that India’s Constitution protects the right to profess, practice, and propagate faith, ruling that prayer meetings do not constitute illegal conversion activities.
Rights advocates say the acquittal marks a significant precedent for Christians facing harassment under India’s anti-conversion laws, which critics view as tools to target minority faiths in the mainly Hindu nation.
Christian watchdog Open Doors ranks India number 11 on its 2025 World Watch List of 50 nations where it says Christians face the harshest persecution, a sharp drop from number 31 in 2013. Rights groups link the decline in religious freedom to rising Hindu nationalist pressure under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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