Indian police use coercion to arrest Christians

JABALPUR, India — Police raided a home in Jabalpur city, Madhya Pradesh state, India, June 6 and arrested Christians there after officers and Hindu extremists coerced a neighbor to file a charge. Homeowner Meera Bai, 52, said her 19-year-old neighbor, known as Sukhdev and by the alias of Guddu Usram, had filed a complaint with police earlier that day claiming that Bai had pressured him to become a Christian. The police arrested Bai, her son and two guests. After questioning at the police station, however, Sukhdev visited Bai at her home to tell her that Hindu extremist Dharma Sena members and police officers had forced him to file the complaint against her. “He said he was eating a meal when some Dharma Sena people, along with policemen, came to his house, took him away forcibly and made him give a statement against me,” she said.