JAMMU, India — A court has ordered the Jammu and Kashmir state government to temporarily halt criminal proceedings against a pastor accused of bribing Muslim youths to convert to Christianity. The state’s High Court on Feb. 11 halted proceedings in the police complaint of “promotion of religious enmity by conversions” against Pastor Chander Mani Khanna of the Church of North India denomination.
Responding to a petition by the pastor to quash the complaint, the court issued notices to top officials of the state’s police department and interior ministry because investigators have not been able to formulate charges even though the case was registered last Oct. 29, Khanna said. The pastor, who remained in jail for more than 40 days until he was released on bail last Dec. 1, added that the court asked the government to file its response by March 14 and then it will set the date for the next hearing. The pastor, who retired in January, said that real victory will be achieved when he is allowed to return to Kashmir, in the Muslim-majority region of the state.
Kashmir’s Shariah (Islamic law) court, which has no legal authority in India, in December found Khanna, Pastor Jim Borst, a Dutch Catholic missionary and Gayoor Messah, a Christian worker, guilty of “luring the valley Muslims to Christianity” and ordered them to leave the state. The court, headed by Kashmir Grand Mufti Bashir-ud-Din Ahmad, also “directed” the state government to take over the management of all Christian schools in the region.
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