A Christian couple convicted of trying to convert people to Christianity in the first such case in India has been granted bail, after they challenged the conviction in the high court of Uttar Pradesh state.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, the northern state’s top court, has granted bail to Pastor Jose Pappachan and his wife, Sheeja Pappachan, said Pastor Joy Mathew, who has been assisting the couple.
“The court is yet to release detailed orders, but it is confirmed that they have been granted bail today,” Mathew told UCA News on Feb. 6.
Pappachan and his wife had moved separate applications requesting bail and to set aside the conviction of a special court in Ambedkar Nagar district, which deals with crimes against socially poor castes.
In the Indian judicial system, convictions can be challenged in appellate courts, and allowing bail for convicts ordinarily means temporary suspension of sentence.
The couple were sentenced on Jan. 22 to five years in jail. They were convicted of violating the state’s law that restricts conversion — the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act 2021.
“We are very happy and relieved that the top court has granted them bail,” Mathew said.
He said the Pappachans’ is “one of the rarest of rare cases where a Christian couple is convicted for attempt to convert people when there is no such provision in the law.”
Last July, the state amended the original 2021 anti-conversion law, making it sharper.
The state said it was to counter the “organized and well-planned” involvement of “foreign and anti-national elements and organizations” in demographic change due to unlawful mass conversion.
The conversion cases may involve minors, disabled individuals, mentally challenged persons, women, and those belonging to Dalit or former untouchable and Adivasi or tribal communities.
“We were disappointed when the trial court convicted them merely based on allegations without any substantiating evidence,” he added.
A supporter of the Hindu-leaning Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which runs the state government, filed a complaint against the couple in January 2023, accusing them of engaging in the religious conversion of people from tribal and socially poor Dalit backgrounds.
The couple denied the conversion charge, arguing that they were providing education to children and helping people stop alcoholism and quarreling among themselves.
Mathew said the prosecution did not prove conversion charges, but they were convicted of “attempting to convert.”
“The top court has rightly granted them relief despite opposition from the state government attorney,” Mathew said.
The state recorded 209 anti-Christian incidents in 2024, the highest in any Indian state, according to the New Delhi-based United Christian Forum (UCF), which tracks violence against Christians across the country.
At least 100 Christians, including pastors, are in prison in the state for allegedly violating the stringent anti-conversion law.
Christian leaders said it has become very difficult for them even to hold prayer gatherings as they are being dubbed as conversion activities and false cases are registered against the faithful without preliminary probe.
Uttar Pradesh is India‘s most populous state, with 200 million people, 80 percent of them Hindus. Christians make up a mere 0.18 percent of the population, while Muslims make up 19 percent.
