The first Christian charged under Uttarakhand’s anti-conversion laws four years ago has become the first to be acquitted.
Judicial Magistrate Anju of the Ramnagar Court in Nainital district delivered the landmark acquittal order on 17 September, clearing Pastor Nandan Singh Bisht of all charges under Uttarakhand’s Religious Freedom Act, 2018.
Pastor Bisht’s friend Rajesh Kumar explained, “It was the first such acquittal since the legislation came into force in 2018. Pastor Bisht was the first Christian arrested in Uttarakhand under the law four years ago.”
The court set an important precedent in its emphasis on constitutional protection for religious practice and the requirements for evidence rather than hearsay and for identifying specific aggrieved persons in conversion cases.
The state’s anti-conversion laws were recently strengthened with the passing of Uttarakhand’s Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2025 in August, which makes them among the harshest in any state in India.
Family detained
On 2 October 2021 a group of around 25 Christians had gathered for a night of prayer at Pastor Bisht’s rented house in Baida Jhal village when a mob of between thirty and 35 Hindus from nearby villages barged in.
“They tore all the posters with Bible verses, four Bibles, threw all our song books, broke all the things inside the prayer hall,” the pastor told Morning Star News. “They slapped me twice and asked me, ‘You are a Thakore [by Hindu caste], why are you converting people?’”
Police detained Pastor Bisht, his wife Tripti Bisht and their 3-year-old daughter Aradhana and took them to the Ramnagar police station. Officers registered a First Information Report based on a written complaint by Jagdish Chandra, who alleged that Pastor Bisht was attempting to convert poor people and members of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities to Christianity. He claimed the pastor had been conducting evening prayer meetings for approximately six months and was offering allurements to local residents to become Christians.
Police let Tripti and Aradhana go but arrested Pastor Bisht, who appeared before a magistrate the following day and was sent to Haldwani jail where he was held for a week before being released on bail. Formal charges were not filed until 12 September 2023, and the pastor denied all allegations and demanded a full trial.
“Tough times”
“I spent one day at the police station and seven days in the jail before I was granted bail,” Pastor Bisht told Morning Star News. He added, “My wife was four months pregnant when I was arrested. I couldn’t give her proper care, and because of all the stress and tension of my arrest and case, we lost our baby.”
Rajesh Kumar described the heavy toll the case took on his friend, saying: “Despite the absence of any victim or concrete evidence of illegal conversion activities, Bisht spent eight days in custody and endured nearly four years of legal proceedings before being cleared. Bisht couldn’t continue his church fellowship during this time. He could not take up a job because he had to present himself in court once or twice a month. Besides, nobody gives you a job when they know you are under trial for a crime. He and his family faced severe social stigma all these years.”
At times Pastor Bisht did not even have money to travel to court and back, but despite acknowledging what he described as the “tough times we have been through as a family” he thanked God that “He was always faithful and sustained my family needs. This is the result of answered prayers.”
Trial and judgment
Pastor Bisht’s trial commenced with evidence presentation on 11 October 2023, and the pastor’s statement – in which he denied all charges – was recorded on 19 June 2025.
The prosecution presented six witnesses during the trial, including complainant Jagdish Chandra, who testified about visiting Pastor Bisht’s rented residence with village officials and claimed to have seen a large picture of Christ hanging on the wall. During cross-examination, however, he admitted that his information about alleged allurements came from another of the witnesses, retired army officer Mohan Singh Patwal, rather than his own observation, making him an indirect witness without firsthand knowledge.
Investigating officer sub-inspector Narendra Kumar admitted during cross-examination that he had not sought court permission before beginning his investigation and that nobody filed any complaint regarding actual conversion during his investigation. Other witnesses also failed to identify any person who had been converted or had been offered allurements to convert.
Pastor Bisht’s lawyer (whose name is withheld for security reasons) told Morning Star News, “Witness after witness testified during cross-examination that neither they nor their relatives had experienced conversion or inducement for conversion. The court noted that the prosecution failed to establish when and how Bisht allegedly induced any person for conversion. No materials supporting conversion activities were recovered despite claims in the initial complaint about conversion literature.”
The court judgment noted that Jagdish Chandra was neither an aggrieved person forced or lured to convert nor a close family member of any such person and that his written statement did not name any specific aggrieved person under force or allurement to convert. Pastor Bisht’s lawyer said the complainant’s written statement provided no specific incident, date, or time when the pastor allegedly offered allurements to anyone and the court found that facts were embellished.
The court found multiple critical failures in the prosecution’s case and stated that the evidence did not establish that Pastor Bisht converted anyone or attempted to do so. The judgment stated that conducting religious prayers represents the accused’s personal freedom to practice their faith and does not constitute inducement for conversion.
Article 25 of the Indian Constitution guarantees the right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion.
(Morning Star News)
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