The International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) and the Evangelical news agency IDEA have named evangelical pastor Chhot Singh Dhurve and others convicted with him in India as the “Prisoners of the Month for September 2026”. The 49-year-old is one of a group of seven Christians who were imprisoned in Dindori district, India, on 12 June 2026 after each received a five-year prison sentence for alleged forced conversion. Each of them was also fined the equivalent of more than €900. The others affected are Sanjay Markam, Santosh Paraste, Amit Kumar, Pramod Singh, Karan Singh Maravi and Jeet Singh, who are between 20 and 48 years old.

Chhot Singh Dhurve © private

Dindori, where the sentences were handed down, is in the state of Madhya Pradesh, which has been governed since March 2020 by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Indian People’s Party. A strict anti-conversion law has been in force there since 2021 and has already been used to imprison many members of the Christian minority. The seven Christians were first detained following an altercation at a family celebration on 27 April 2024. Angad Singh Maravi, a cousin of the host, disrupted the celebration as an uninvited guest and threatened the Christians gathered there in particular, until a mob of more than 100 people eventually arrived and surrounded the house. When the police were called to protect the Christians under threat, officers did attend, but arrested the Christians themselves. All seven were temporarily released in early May 2024 after posting bail. The Christians have appealed against the judgments. The ISHR and IDEA are calling for appeals to Indian President Draupadi Murmu to intervene in support of their release.

Sample letter

Her Excellency
President Draupadi Murmu
c/o Embassy of the Republic of India
Tiergartenstraße 17

10785 Berlin

Excellency,

I am writing to express my concern for seven imprisoned Christians and their families. The men, who are between 20 and 49 years old, are Chhot Singh Dhurve, Sanjay Markam, Santosh Paraste, Amit Kumar, Pramod Singh, Karan Singh Maravi and Jeet Singh. On 12 June 2026, each was sentenced in Dindori district, Madhya Pradesh, to five years’ imprisonment for violating the so-called anti-conversion law. They were also each fined the equivalent of more than 900 Euro.

The Christians came to the attention of the authorities following an altercation at a family celebration on 27 April 2024. They are accused of promoting the Christian faith among the guests or even pressuring them to change their religion. The host, in particular, disputes this account, while the person who filed the complaint had not even been invited to the event. There are strong indications that the law was misused in this case as an act of personal retaliation and that the court failed to take this into account.

The equality guaranteed by the Indian Constitution has unfortunately still not been fully realised, particularly in rural areas. I respectfully urge you to use the authority of your office to support the release of these Christians, whose bail has also been set at a prohibitively high amount.
Yours faithfully,