UP Police: According to PTI, a 60-year-old pastor and his son were taken into custody on Sunday after members of the right-wing extremist organization Bajrang Dal staged a demonstration outside a church in the Fatehpur district, accusing the two of forcing Hindu women to convert by enticing them with cash and other promises.

Additionally, the police car carrying the preacher David Gladion and his 30-year-old son Abhishek Gladion was momentarily encircled by the demonstrators.

The Bajrang Dal workers protested for over three hours outside the church during a prayer gathering, claiming that Hindu women were being enticed to the church with offers of free education for their children, employment, and money.

Additionally, they said that there were around 150 people inside the church at the time, many of them were women.

Circle Officer Veer Singh arrived at the scene with a substantial police presence after learning about the demonstrations. But the pastor and son were taken into custody by the police.

Based on a complaint made by a local, Dev Prakash Paswan, a case has been filed under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act against the pastor, his son, and seven other unnamed individuals, according to Vinod Kumar Maurya, house officer of Radha Nagar Station.

Publicity vans were being used to call locals to prayer services, according to a police official who was cited by the PTI. “Religious literature was recovered from one such vehicle that was seized during the protest,” he stated.

The ‘reason’ of the women’s attendance in the church was being confirmed, CO Veer Singh told PTI. He said that an inquiry was under progress and that further steps will be taken in response to the findings.

The arrest occurred a few days after the United Christians Forum (UCF) voiced its concerns over the “disturbing pattern of religious persecution” of Christians in the nation in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The organization said that it had documented 814 instances of violence against Christians in 2024, with an average of 69.5 occurrences per month, in a letter dated December 26, one day after the nation saw several assaults on Christmas festivities in various areas.

The letter said, “As of November 2025, a staggering 706 incidents targeting Christians” had been documented by the UCF.

False claims of fake conversions have been the main cause of these assaults, according to the UCF, which also pointed out that Uttar Pradesh has the most incidences (184), followed by Chhattisgarh (157).

A study titled “Criminalising Practice of Faith” that detailed instances in which police reportedly “colluded with Hindutva groups and turned a blind eye to offences committed against Christians” was also included in the letter.