Published on January 1, 2024, 2:10 am

Image source: Fox News

The recently released pastor in Maharajganj district of Uttar Pradesh, known as Pastor Dashrath Gupta, was arrested last month by the Nautanwa police but unluckily found himself on bail. The pastor’s wife and son vehemently insist that this whole series of unfortunate events has been a nasty case of him being falsely accused.

Orienting around the small location of Barwa Khurd village within the jurisdictional reach of Nautanwa, Pastor Gupta found himself under the prosecutorial spotlight based on an accusation brought forward by a woman who had regularly attended his church services for over a year. This lead to his arrest on November 25th for allegedly persuading her to convert; an accusation made under Sections 3 and 5 of the Uttar Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act.

For context, Section 3 strictly prohibits converting individuals from one religion to another through duplicitous acts, forceful persuasion or coercion amongst other deceitful ways while Section 5 accentuates that breaking Section 3 is punishable by imprisonment ranging from one year to five years plus a minimum fine of 5,000 rupees.

December proved to be somewhat kinder for Pastor Gupta who won bail on its fifth day and eventually saw freedom from prison a week later denying allegations of ill-gotten conversion vociferously in interviews. Controversially asserting that it was actually the accuser’s husband controlling behind the scenes – coercing his wife into signing a complaining letter under threat and bribe tactics.

According to Pastor Gupta,”Her husband threatened to abandon her if she did not consent to sign documents accusing me enticing her into joining the church. He even took away her cellphone, preventing her from contacting us about filing her complaint.”

Interestingly, citing old narratives surrounding his accuser’s faith journey paints quite contrasting dynamics than those depicted by them. As per him, the woman confided joining his church seeking prayers for her errant husband and remaining steadfast in her faith for a year until being exposed to her husband. Infuriated, the husband aimed to frame Pastor Gupta as a form of malicious punishment.

Sadly, this wasn’t an isolated incident – Pastor Gupta experienced resistance across all his seven church services spanning in a 20-kilometre radius from his home village Barwa Khurd alongside facing threats of serious ramifications if he persisted with his services. As a consequence, six other churches were also discontinued.

Facing economic hardships due to dwindling support, the pastor’s wife shed some light on their struggles including raising their six children aged between 10 and 22 years.

Once a practicing Hindu himself, Pastor Gupta surrendered to Christian faith before deciding to lead his own church about two years ago which mushroomed into managing six more churches in time. Surprisingly undeterred by being detained twice before, he maintains a robust belief saying,”Now that I know the Truth (Jesus), I will not deny the truth; I am ready to die for Christ because I have the assurance that I will meet my Savior.”

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