India: Islamic court charges Anglican and Catholic with prosyletism

Final sentence within days. Grand Mufti of the region claims the two men are guilty of forced conversions. Rev. Khanna: "I fear for my life." John Dayal of the All Indian Christian Council (AICC): "Islamic Court has no authority, India is a secular and democratic state".
Friday, January 13, 2012

"I fear for my life. I am in danger”, is the cry of alarm launched by Rev. CM Khanna,...pastor of All Saints Anglican Church to AsiaNews after he was indicted by a Islamic court in Kashmir for proselytism and forced conversions to Christianity. With him, the Shariah court (which has no legal authority in the State, ed) has also indicted Fr. Jim Borst, a Catholic priest from The Netherland and a Mill Hill missionary on the same charges. The Grand Mufti Muhammad Nasir region-ul-Islam said that the court will announce the sentence "as soon as possible."

In November 2011, the Islamic court had summoned the Rev. Khanna, charging him with having led 7 young Muslims to baptism in exchange for money. To these accusations - always strongly rejected by the pastor and the converted themselves – led to the man being arrested and only released after a week. A similar fate for Fr. Jim Borst: the missionary had to respond to allegations of proselytizing before the Shariah court of Kashmir state in which he has lived for 49 years. the rest