Several Christians have been jailed in northern India after being accused of 'conversion'. 

Pastor Sanjay Kumar and his wife, Sunita Devi, were among the 13 arrested. A Christian leader – who remains anonymous – told UCA News that they had been attending house prayer meetings when police arrived.

The authorities had reportedly been alerted by "local villagers suspecting conversion activities", according to the outlet. 

“More than a dozen Christians are being accused of religious conversion even though there isn’t a single person whom they converted,” pastor Sanjay said.

He believes there has been a rise in Christian persecution following the country’s general election, where Modi’s party lost seats in Uttar Pradesh, reducing their majority in parliament.

Uttar Pradesh is ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It is India’s most populated region and makes up 80 seats in the lower house of parliament, called the Lok Sabha. The BJP won 62 of the seats in the 2019 general election but was reduced to 33 in this year's election on 4th June.

“The rise in persecution against the Christians stems from this electoral defeat,” said the church leader.

“We cannot even pray... I never imagined such a situation in our country." 

The state government is led by Yogi Adityanath, a former Hindu monk.

In 2020, his government introduced an anti-conversion law that was adopted by the state assembly the following year as the 'Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act 2021'.

‘Anti-conversion’ laws are in place across 11 of India's 28 states.