Pastor accused of forcible conversion in Maharashtra

Pastor Fernandez, an independent pastor in Badlapur, Maharashtra, has been falsely accused of trying to convert people to Christianity by a woman after he failed to heal her sick daughter.

Pastor Fernandez, who leads a small congregation of believers which assembles in his house for prayers and Bible study, was approached by a villager woman, Lakshmi Shetty a few months ago who requested him to cure her mentally handicapped daughter.

For more than 3 months Shetty attended Sunday worship but noticing no improvement in her daughter's condition, she gave up hope and began falsely accusing the pastor of pressurizing her to convert to Christianity.

Shetty also approached the local police and registered a complaint against the pastor.

"Pastor Fernandez is innocent of these charges, the mother was desperate to seek a remedy for her child and when nothing could be done to cure her mental illness– registered absolutely baseless charges against the pastor," said Sajan George, president, Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), adding, "The pastor now lives in fear of being arrested."