The Indian state of Rajasthan passed a new bill against religious conversions, prompting a renewed wave of mob attacks against Christians.
The bill, known as the “Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill,” was passed on Sept. 9, according to the Christian advocacy group Open Doors.
It awaits a final expected approval from the governor.
Any voluntary conversions now require local authorities to approve them, and unauthorized conversions can produce prison sentences and the equivalent of nearly $30,000 in fines.
Residents could also have their homes confiscated or demolished as a consequence of their conversions.
The advancement of the bill has emboldened Hindu nationalist mob violence against Christians, and five attacks have already occurred since Sept. 9.
Adherents to Hindutva, a political ideology centered on establishing the political dominance of Hinduism in India, broke into a church service on Sept. 21, accusing the pastor of forcibly converting people, according to Open Doors.
They started assaulting parishioners who defended him, putting several in the hospital.
Police then imprisoned the pastor instead of the mob.
Just three days later, Hindu nationalists protested the Hindustan Bible Institute.
They accused two staff members of forcibly converting people, and the staffers were detained by police.
“After the anti-conversion law was introduced in the State Assembly, Hindutva extremists have become more active, targeting Christian gatherings and accusing pastors of false conversions,” Open Doors local partner Shiv Rathod, whose name was changed for safety, recounted to the organization.
“The police are under pressure from extremists to register false cases and arrest pastors and believers,” he added.
Members of the minority parties in Rajasthan waked out of the chamber when the anti-conversion bill was passed, but the legislation advanced anyway.
“With the passing of this bill, the most vulnerable are the Christians,” Rathod continued.
“In the last 18 months, more than 150 persecution incidents have been reported in Rajasthan, where pastors have been arrested on false charges of coercive conversion, church services disrupted, and many house churches closed,” he said.
Christians who recant their faith and return to their “ancestral religion” of Hinduism will be exempted from prosecution.
“Christian believers are threatened to renounce their faith and return to their old religion,” Rathod noted.
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