{"id":191532,"date":"2025-12-31T19:36:34","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T14:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/?p=191532"},"modified":"2025-12-31T19:36:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T14:36:55","slug":"keralite-priests-arrest-in-maharashtra-sparks-protests-and-political-uproar-in-kerala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/2025\/12\/31\/keralite-priests-arrest-in-maharashtra-sparks-protests-and-political-uproar-in-kerala.html","title":{"rendered":"Keralite priest\u2019s arrest in Maharashtra sparks protests and political uproar in Kerala"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Trivandrum: The recent arrest of a Keralite priest, his wife, and 10 others in Nagpur in BJP-ruled Maharashtra on alleged charges of forced religious conversion has sparked widespread outrage in Kerala, igniting protests and political uproar.<\/p>\n

According to Kashmir Media Service, Church of south India (CSI) Bishop Sabu Malayil Koshy, secretary of the CSI Bishops\u2019 Council, strongly condemned the action, calling it a blatant violation of constitutional freedoms. \u201cFr. Sudheer has been serving in Maharashtra\u2019s Nagpur for the past 12 years, focussing on educating children and supporting local communities,\u201d he said. He noted that the activities in question were simply Christmas-related worship services. \u201cThe CSI Bishops\u2019 Council strongly condemns this police action,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Bishop Koshy went on to criticize the silence of political leadership, both at the state and national levels, saying it sends a dangerous message to those engaging in such acts. \u201cInaction in the face of attacks on religious minorities emboldens the perpetrators,\u201d he added. The CSI Church also pledged to provide full legal support to those arrested and vowed to monitor similar incidents across India.<\/p>\n

Political leaders in Kerala too have voiced strong concern over the incident. In a social media post, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan described the incident as deeply disturbing. \u201cThis follows a worrying pattern by the Sangh Parivar of targeting minorities to fuel polarisation, as seen earlier in Jabalpur. Such actions undermine constitutional freedoms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan has written to both the Indian Prime Minister and the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. \u201cThis incident raises serious concerns about the violation of fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution, particularly the freedom to profess, practise, and propagate religion. Arresting individuals for conducting a peaceful prayer meeting is unconstitutional,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

This incident comes on the heels of several attacks on Christians in India, particularly during the Christmas season. These developments have further intensified concerns about the security and rights of religious minorities in Modi\u2019s India.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trivandrum: The recent arrest of a Keralite priest, his wife, and 10 others in Nagpur in BJP-ruled Maharashtra on alleged charges of forced religious conversion has sparked widespread outrage in Kerala, igniting protests and political uproar. According to Kashmir Media Service, Church of south India (CSI) Bishop Sabu Malayil Koshy, secretary of the CSI Bishops\u2019 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":191533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/12\/20251231_1934535058215522533520830.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191532"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191535,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191532\/revisions\/191535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}