A Protestant pastor, Rev Sojan, was arrested last on December 8 in Bakhtiyarpur, a village in Patna District (Bihar), for screening Yeshu Masih (Jesus Christ), a film about the life of Jesus. “The Rev Sojan was just showing a movie,” Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), told Asia News. Unfortunately, “in this pre-election period, minorities are even more vulnerable and intimidated by the majority and its false accusations.”

The incident shows that tensions between Hindu radicals and Christians are far from ending.

Villagers tried to stop the clergyman from showing the film and wanted him out of the village the GCIC activist said. When he came back the next day he was accused of forced conversion, which led police to detain him for a few hours, before they took him back to his home village of Barh. Before they left, the agents told him not to return to Bakhtiyarpur.

As is often the case in India, charges of forced conversion are made against Protestant and Catholic clergy to prevent them from doing their work.