Religious conversions have always been a fraught issue in India. Even as the Supreme Court is set to hear pleas challenging anti-conversion laws , the process has already become punishment for some. Not only have they been forced to spend time and resources defending themselves in conversion cases but continue to live in fear even after being acquitted.
Two years ago, one sweltering Sunday morning in June, 35-year-old Sonu Saroj’s life turned upside down. The bike mechanic, who lives in Kodra village in UP’s Rae Bareilly, was conducting a Christian prayer meeting in a makeshift shed with several relatives and neighbours when about 35-40 people armed with sticks and claiming to be from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad attacked the group. “They just kept hitting us,” Saroj recalls. Some of them also ransacked his house. His wife sustained head injuries and fainted while his bleeding nephew and he were dragged to the police station.
“We kept pleading with the police that we were the victims not the culprits, but no one listened to us,” he says. He was later booked under the UP anti-conversion law or the Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021 (an amended, more stringent version of the 2020 ordinance). It took multiple visits and witness accounts following which Saroj was cleared of all charges by a local court in Sept 2024. Though free at least, Saroj is too scared to hold prayer gatherings.
Eleven states, including Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, UP and Karnataka, have anti-conversion laws and several other states are planning to have them. In both Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where such laws already exist, the administration has announced more stringent versions with MP even planning to introduce death penalty as punishment. Yet, there has been little by way of assessing the impact of these legislations.
An estimated 835 cases were registered in UP with 1,682 arrested between Nov 2020 and July 2024 under the anti-conversion law. Just days after the anti-conversion law was passed in UP in Nov 2020, the first person to be booked was Muzaffarnagar resident Nadeem, accused of “trapping” a married woman and converting her. A case of ‘love jihad’ was filed by her husband who had employed Nadeem for work.
It later emerged that her husband was riled up by the fact that his wife sought shelter at Nadeem’s house after a fight between the couple. “It was a domestic dispute that was turned into a fake conversion case against me,” Nadeem says. “I had no support, and no one believed me. I was humiliated, called names. It took me over a year to get out of that mess,” Nadeem says. He was acquitted by the Allahabad high court in Jan 2021. “Aaj bhi jail ke baare mein soch ke rooh kamp jaati hai (Just the thought of prison sends shivers down my spine even today),” says the 29-year-old.
In Chhattisgarh’s Mokhpal village, it took over a dozen Christian residents, who were beaten and their belongings destroyed, seven years to overthrow conversion allegations. Dantewada resident Sangeeta Kartami and her husband were part of a group who would gather to pray every Sunday at Mokhpal, 32 km from her home. On Oct 15, 2017, Kartami remembers the group had finished their prayers and most people had already left when a large mob attacked them with sticks. “I was hit on the head with a lathi and suddenly felt blood pouring out. I don’t remember much after that,” she says.
Her husband Dev Chandra was hauled off to the Dantewada police station. Like Rae Bareilly’s Saroj, Kartami found then that they had been charged under the anti-conversion law. So began the seven-year journey.
Looking back at why they were targeted, Kartami says there is a prevalence of superstition and black magic in their community. “My husband, a govt school teacher, was not doing well. But in 2003, he accepted Christianity and started progressing both in his work and personal life. After that, he was frequently accused of converting people even when he was sharing a word of comfort or advice,” she says.
The same year as the Dantewada couple, Maharashtra resident Prabhakar Sule, 47, who lives in Jalgaon district, was booked in an anti-conversion case. He was visiting MP’s Khandwa for a prayer meeting when the group was attacked. “My wife and I were dragged to the police station like criminals. My children, who live in hostels, had no idea of our whereabouts for three days,” he says.
Sule’s case was registered in Khandwa, 120 km away from his home. For seven years, the couple had to travel for court appearances before they were cleared in 2024. “Earlier, I was scared at the sight of khaki but now I don’t feel that dread anymore. The worst has already happened,” he says.
Two years ago, one sweltering Sunday morning in June, 35-year-old Sonu Saroj’s life turned upside down. The bike mechanic, who lives in Kodra village in UP’s Rae Bareilly, was conducting a Christian prayer meeting in a makeshift shed with several relatives and neighbours when about 35-40 people armed with sticks and claiming to be from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad attacked the group. “They just kept hitting us,” Saroj recalls. Some of them also ransacked his house. His wife sustained head injuries and fainted while his bleeding nephew and he were dragged to the police station.
“We kept pleading with the police that we were the victims not the culprits, but no one listened to us,” he says. He was later booked under the UP anti-conversion law or the Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021 (an amended, more stringent version of the 2020 ordinance). It took multiple visits and witness accounts following which Saroj was cleared of all charges by a local court in Sept 2024. Though free at least, Saroj is too scared to hold prayer gatherings.
Eleven states, including Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, UP and Karnataka, have anti-conversion laws and several other states are planning to have them. In both Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where such laws already exist, the administration has announced more stringent versions with MP even planning to introduce death penalty as punishment. Yet, there has been little by way of assessing the impact of these legislations.
An estimated 835 cases were registered in UP with 1,682 arrested between Nov 2020 and July 2024 under the anti-conversion law. Just days after the anti-conversion law was passed in UP in Nov 2020, the first person to be booked was Muzaffarnagar resident Nadeem, accused of “trapping” a married woman and converting her. A case of ‘love jihad’ was filed by her husband who had employed Nadeem for work.
It later emerged that her husband was riled up by the fact that his wife sought shelter at Nadeem’s house after a fight between the couple. “It was a domestic dispute that was turned into a fake conversion case against me,” Nadeem says. “I had no support, and no one believed me. I was humiliated, called names. It took me over a year to get out of that mess,” Nadeem says. He was acquitted by the Allahabad high court in Jan 2021. “Aaj bhi jail ke baare mein soch ke rooh kamp jaati hai (Just the thought of prison sends shivers down my spine even today),” says the 29-year-old.
In Chhattisgarh’s Mokhpal village, it took over a dozen Christian residents, who were beaten and their belongings destroyed, seven years to overthrow conversion allegations. Dantewada resident Sangeeta Kartami and her husband were part of a group who would gather to pray every Sunday at Mokhpal, 32 km from her home. On Oct 15, 2017, Kartami remembers the group had finished their prayers and most people had already left when a large mob attacked them with sticks. “I was hit on the head with a lathi and suddenly felt blood pouring out. I don’t remember much after that,” she says.
Her husband Dev Chandra was hauled off to the Dantewada police station. Like Rae Bareilly’s Saroj, Kartami found then that they had been charged under the anti-conversion law. So began the seven-year journey.
Looking back at why they were targeted, Kartami says there is a prevalence of superstition and black magic in their community. “My husband, a govt school teacher, was not doing well. But in 2003, he accepted Christianity and started progressing both in his work and personal life. After that, he was frequently accused of converting people even when he was sharing a word of comfort or advice,” she says.
The same year as the Dantewada couple, Maharashtra resident Prabhakar Sule, 47, who lives in Jalgaon district, was booked in an anti-conversion case. He was visiting MP’s Khandwa for a prayer meeting when the group was attacked. “My wife and I were dragged to the police station like criminals. My children, who live in hostels, had no idea of our whereabouts for three days,” he says.
Sule’s case was registered in Khandwa, 120 km away from his home. For seven years, the couple had to travel for court appearances before they were cleared in 2024. “Earlier, I was scared at the sight of khaki but now I don’t feel that dread anymore. The worst has already happened,” he says.
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