By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi, August 9, 2026: Civil society activists across India have voiced alarm at the arrest and judicial custody of senior Christian leader Arun Pannalal, president of the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum, who was taken from his Raipur home late on August 7.
Police acted on a complaint filed by Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Amit Chimnani over a Facebook comment allegedly concerning Shiva, regarded as the destroyer god in the Hindu pantheon.
Pannalal has been charged under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to promoting enmity, outraging religious feelings, and provoking breach of peace.
Rights groups note that such sections are increasingly invoked in the BJP‑ruled states to target minority voices, while inflammatory speech against minorities often goes unchecked.
Pro-Hindu Bajrang Dal cadres gathered outside Pannalal’s home during the arrest, as police focused on crowd control rather than the complaint itself.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai publicly termed Pannalal’s remarks “objectionable to Sanatan Dharma” even before the courts examined the case, raising concerns about the erosion of judicial impartiality.
Activists stress that the arrest must be seen in the wider context of Chhattisgarh’s stringent anti‑conversion law, Odisha’s memorialisation of the Kandhamal violence, and tightening restrictions on minority faith practice nationwide.
“Arun Pannalal’s real offence is that he has refused to stay silent,” one activist remarked, calling for his immediate release, a fair judicial process free of political interference, and an end to the misuse of criminal law as a tool of silencing dissent.
The Constitution guarantees freedom of expression and conscience under Articles 19 and 25. Rights groups insist that governance must not be reduced to vendetta against minority voices.
(Photo supplied)