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Pastor Jose Pappachan and his wife Sheeja Pappachan are the first Christians to be convicted in India under the Hindu Nationalists’ anti-conversion laws.

The Pappachans were fined, then imprisoned for five years, because they celebrated Christmas with, sought to teach, and feed the poor.

Hindu activists complained the couple were converting illiterate Dalits to Christianity by coercing them with “gifts”.

A Dalit social worker reported the couple because, he claimed, their “activities were causing mental distress to the Dalit caste community.”

Up to ten witnesses provided testimony against the Pappachans.

Most told the court the couple “held a gathering on December 25^th, celebrated Jesus Christ’s birthday with a cake, and offered sweets to locals.”

The Christian couple were also accused of inviting “villagers to gather at their home for prayer meetings.”

One witness accused the husband-and-wife ministry team of using food as an incentive for conversion, stating that they “organised community meals” and distributed Christian-themed educational material.

In an attempt to back up the prosecution’s case, police investigators submitted as evidence:

A children’s picture Bible; four large diaries, three of which had “Holy Bible” written on the first page; two small diaries, one titled New Testament Idioms, and four Christian calendars.

Guilty Verdict

Condemning the couple, the court ruled that both Jose and Sheeja had,

“engaged with members of the Dalit community, teaching them the Bible, promoting the teachings of Jesus Christ, and attempted to lure them into converting to Christianity through monetary incentive.”

Despite a lack of evidence, Indian journalist Subhi Vishwakarma said the Pappachans were found “guilty of orchestrating a conversion racket” targeting the vulnerable.

On a secondary charge of publicly abusing the Dalits, the Pappachans were found not guilty.

Alongside “the Bible is offensive” justifications for the lack of any real evidence, the court seems to have accepted implied guilt as evidence.

The couple, prosecutors argued, had no business being in the region, therefore Pastor Jose’s and his wife’s guilt was self-evident.

Jose and Sheeja denied all charges.

Regardless of their defence, the Christian Indian couple were each sentenced to five years in prison and fined INR 50,000 (roughly AUD $923).

The 22 January sentencing was a loud warning to Christians against any attempt at loving the “vulnerable Dalit” out of the “don’t mess with their karma” Hindu caste system.

No Evidence

Responding, International Christian Concern (ICC) called the judgement a “dangerous precedent”.

There was “no concrete defence evidence submitted to prove the charges of forced conversions,” they added.

Nor was there any evidence the Pappachans were manipulating villagers with the promise of money if they converted to Christianity.

Additionally, the complaint came from a prejudiced source.

Dr Chandrika Prasad, the social worker who pursued the couple, is also a “local leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)”.

The Dalits (legally known as the Scheduled caste), ICC explained, are considered outcasts and represent the lowest level of castes in India.

They are “socially, economically, and historically marginalised communities, who have traditionally embraced Christianity to escape the Hindu caste system.”

I’ve been writing about the impact of India’s and Pakistan’s versions of “hate speech” legislation for a while now.

(You can read those articles here, here, here, and here).

In sum, Hindu anti-conversion and Islamic blasphemy laws are providing the West with an ample amount of evidence warning us against legislating “hate speech” laws.

The persecution of the Pappachans is made possible by the political suppression of free speech.

In the West, this suppression justifies its existence as social justice.

This is the core tenet of “voice and visibility” for so-called “oppressed and under-represented minorities”.

As the victims of hate speech laws in India and Pakistan show, the goal isn’t shelter for the socially vulnerable.

The real end game for hate speech laws is the protection of politicians, false religion, and the further advancement of the Christ-hating activist class.

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Image of the Pappachans courtesy of Waleed Zarou.