Nepal Detains Christian Couple for "Proselytising" Orphans in India

A state-run newspaper Rising Nepal Daily has reported that an Indian couple alleged of "proselytising" students in the school they set up for orphans have been arrested by the Nepalese authorities.

Babu Verghese, an Indian citizen, and his wife Savitri, were running the Grace English Boarding School in Birgunj city in southern Nepal, the commercial capital of the Hindu kingdom. The district administrative authorities received complaints that the couple had been converting their students, according to the newspaper. Sources said that most of the 80 students in the school had been converted to Christianity.

Nepal, as the only official Hindu kingdom in the world, Hindus constitute approximately 81 percent of its 24.7 million-strong population. Only 0.45 percent of the total population are Christian. The Constitution provides for freedom of religion and permits the practice of all religions. Although the Government generally has not interfered with the practice of other religions, there are some restrictions.

Forcible conversions to Christianity, Islam and any other non-Hindu religions, so-called "Proselytisation", is a punishable offence in Nepal.

According to the Evangelical Times, Christianity was prohibited in Nepal until 1940. But in 1950, Nepali Christians living in Darjeeling, north-east India, brought the gospel into the country. However, Christian missionaries that went to Nepal, mostly from India, were regarded with suspicion and often harassed.

After the pro-democracy movement of 1990, a door was opened for evangelistic endeavour. Nepal became more liberal, the state adopted a more tolerant attitude though forcible conversions still remain a punishable offence.

The most active Christian mission organisations established on the land are the International Nepal Fellowship, the United Mission to Nepal and the Nepal Campus Crusade for Christ among others.

In the year 2000, Nepal was said to have the fastest growing Church in the world, according to Evangelical Times. Today there are about 5,000 churches.

However, as a result cases of persecution towards Christians over alleged "Proselytising" and other charges are increasing over recent years. Articles from webindia123.com cited a number of examples. In 2003, eight Christians were jailed for reportedly conducting "illegal religious activities" after police found Bibles and Christian literature in their bags.

The same year, police prevented Christians from organising an Easter rally and meeting in the heart of the city though they had received prior permission from the district authorities.

The most well-known case is that a Norwegian missionary - Trond Berg, a representative of the Living Word Church in Norway, was arrested with an Indian and three Nepalese Christians in October 2000 in eastern Nepal after being attacked by a mob. It was led by a man who claimed the Norwegian church had promised to pay him $1,000 if he converted.

In the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) in Geneva last month, Nepal was one of the highlighted countries where religious freedom is being severely violated. Not only the Hindu culture deeply rooted in the nation has discriminated against non-Hindus religious belief, but also the Maoist rebels in Nepal have carried out a series of crackdowns on the churches. The Baptist World Alliance has called on Christians worldwide to pray for Nepalese churches persecuted by Maoists in December 2004.

On the UNCHR, human rights groups requested that the Nepalese authorities and the Maoists guarantee the integrity of all human rights defenders and ensure that they could carry out their work unhindered.