India: Christian Worship Center Demolished and 18 People Arrested

Government officials in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state have demolished a Christian prayer center and arrested a pastor and 17 church members on charges of allegedly attacking police and other officials. Hindu nationalist officials sent a special squad, escorted by police, to tear down the Jeevan Jyoti Church mission center and its place of worship last week, claiming it was built without permission
on illegal land. 

The squad blocked all roads leading to the facility before destroying it. What is hardly reported when this story is told is that this prayer center had been in the crosshairs of leadership groups in the area for several years. In fact, since the Bharatiya Janata Party assumed power in the state, the Christian prayer center has been on the radar of Hindutva
groups. They have accused its managers, particularly its chief pastor of luring impoverished individuals to convert to Christianity and spreading misinformation about the Hindu religion. Many videos have surfaced from the demolition site, showing the bulldozers at work.

The excuse of the Church being built on government land was used by the Uttar Pradesh government to justify the demolition. But even before the demolition, the prayer place had been locked. And that was because a complaint about encroachment of government land by the church was made to the authorities in the month of September. In order to resolve the complaint, officials issued a notice which set a time limit within which a measurement of the land perimeter was to be conducted.

On the day of the measurement, the officials found the building locked and therefore could not do anything. It is reported that on their way from the church precinct they were then pelted with stones by a group of youths who then fled the scene. A couple of days later, the Revenue Department officials returned and they confirmed that the church was illegally constructed on the land of village society and mausoleum. Pursuant to this, the administration pasted a notice of demolition at the property by deeming it to be an ‘illegally constructed prayer hall’.

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