Police in India’s Assam state have arrested a Baptist pastor on charges of violating a newly enacted law that curbs magical healing after he prayed over some tribal people in a village. Pastor Pranjal Bhuyan was arrested on Nov. 22 in the northeastern state for violating the Assam Magical Healing (Prevention of Evil Practices) Act and attempting to convert people to Christianity. He has been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days, police said. Bhuyan was arrested in Upper Golaghat district after a resident of Padampur village complained that the pastor was trying to convert tribal people, claiming to heal their illness through prayers. The state law came into force in March purportedly to create science-based knowledge and a safe environment to protect human health. It also aims to end evil and sinister practices that thrive on ignorance and people’s ill health. The law criminalizes practices resorting to magical healing and stipulates a three-year jail term and a fine for violations. “We had objected to the bill when it was introduced in the state assembly. The bill targets minorities like Christians and Musli-ms,” Archbishop John Moolachira of Guwahati in Assam told on Nov. 26. Under the law, people can be arrested when they pray for their relatives, said Moolachira, who is the president of the Assam Christian Forum. Prayer is a universal practice used to invoke divine intervention. The prelate observed that labeling it as a “magical healing” is misleading. “Healing is not synonymous with proselytization,” he said, adding that lawyers have been engaged in helping the pastor get bail. “We are planning to meet next month to discuss the controversial law,” Moolachira said. The Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) runs the state government. The BJP and its supporters oppose Christian missionary work, considering it a challenge to their aim of establishing Hindu hegemony in India.