HYDERABAD, India, May 15, 2020 (Morning Star News) – A pastor arrested in Nepal in March on charges of giving false information for saying prayer could heal COVID-19 was released last month – and then immediately re-arrested on new charges, sources said.
Moments after releasing pastor Keshab Raj Acharya on bail on April 8, police re-arrested him on charges of “outraging religious feelings” and “proselytizing,” according to court documents. Christian leaders in the Himalayan country and rights advocates said the charges violate a freedom of religion agreement to which Nepal is a signatory.
His wife, Junu Acharya, told Morning Star News that police had told her the bail amount would be 70,000 Nepalese rupees (US$571), an amount she gathered from church members and was counting and re-counting at the district jail when an officer told her the bond was only 5,000 Nepalese rupees (US$41).
Overjoyed, she quickly thanked him and rushed into the main office, where she paid the amount and received a receipt, she said.
“I was happy that my husband was finally returning home. But the moment we both stepped out of the district jail gate, a police officer came running after us,” Acharya told Morning Star News. “He told me that I cannot take my husband home.”
Another police officer followed, seizing her husband’s hands and handcuffing him, she said. When she…
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