Seventeen people, including seven women, have been arrested in a northern Indian state under the draconian anti-conversion law.
Police in Uttar Pradesh arrested them during the Sunday prayer service on Sept. 17 following a complaint from a local villager.
“The allegations leveled at them are totally baseless,” said Minakshi Singh, general secretary of Unity in Compassion, a charity based in the national capital New Delhi.
Singh questioned the police action against people praying peacefully. “It is totally a breach of the constitutional right to practice a religion of choice.”
“We will soon move an application before the local court for their bail,” Singh told UCA News on Sept. 18.
In his complaint, Subhash Chandra Jatav accused another villager, Dinesh Chandrashekhar, of inviting him to a prayer service.
The complainant, along with his wife and a couple of friends, attended the Sunday prayer service at Chandrashekhar’s house.
According to him, the organizers spoke about the importance of becoming Christians and accused Chandrashekhar and others of offering financial support to change religion.
This story was originally published in ucanews.com. Read the full story here