MADHYA PRADESH, India — A pastor and his wife have been fined and sentenced to two years in prison in India for false accusations of trying to force or coerce some Hindus to convert to Christianity.
The Christian couple — Ramesh Ahirwar and wife Sakshi Ahirwar — were convicted March 11 under the anticonversion law of Madhya Pradesh state. Morning Star News says each spouse must pay a fine of $300 (25,000 rupees) in addition to serving the two-year sentence.
“If the conviction stands, it would be the first under Madhya Pradesh’s anticonversion law,” states Morning Star.
One church leader said members of the Hindu extremist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh appear to have instigated the allegations in 2021 against Ahirwar, his wife and Ahirwar’s father-in-law.
The March 11 court decision acquitted Ahirwar’s father-in-law.
“Since the court’s judgment on March 11, Hindu nationalists have been circulating messages against Pastor Ahirwar and his family daily,” reports Morning Star.
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