India’s Supreme Court has stayed all criminal proceedings against a Roman Catholic priest who was charged with hurting religious sentiments after he told a church congregation that Christianity was the only true religion.

The priest, Father Vincent Pereira from the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, has faced charges under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code since February 2024, according to the United Kingdom-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).

Section 295A criminalizes deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings, a provision often seen as functioning like a blasphemy law.

A First Information Report, or formal police complaint, was filed against Pereira in 2023 at the Muhammadabad Police Station in Uttar Pradesh’s Mau District after he was accused of hurting the religious sentiment of the Hindu community by claiming that Christianity was the only true religion during a church service.

Pereira petitioned the Allahabad High Court to quash the charges.

On March 18, 2026, the court dismissed the petition, ruling that claiming any one religion as the only true religion is wrong in a secular country like India because it may be derogatory to other faiths.

Pereira then appealed to the Supreme Court of India.

On April 10, a bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta ordered that no trial will take place, no summons need to be answered, and all criminal proceedings against Pereira will be halted until the court hears and decides the matter on its merits.

The court also issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on Pereira’s petition challenging the Allahabad High Court’s order.

Article 25(1) of the Indian Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to freely profess, practice and propagate their religion, subject to considerations of public order, morality and health. Propagation includes the right to preach and share one’s religious beliefs.

CSW President Mervyn Thomas welcomed the Supreme Court order as a positive step for religious minority communities in India. He called on the court to acquit Pereira and reject the Allahabad High Court’s position that no faith can claim exclusive truth, saying it effectively criminalizes a key doctrinal belief of many religions.

Persecution of Christian priests and workers is routine in India, including violent attacks.

In its 2026 report released last month, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom urged the U.S. State Department to designate India as a “country of particular concern,” citing systematic and ongoing violations of religious freedom.

Reported cases of violence against Christians rose from 139 in 2014 to over 900 in 2026, with nearly 5,000 incidents documented over the past decade, according to the United Christian Forum (UCF).

The 2014 baseline marked the start of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party’s ongoing tenure at the federal level.

Several Indian states have anti-conversion laws to regulate religious conversions that effectively criminalize peaceful prayer and charity work. Several cases involve police complaints filed by third parties rather than alleged victims.

An analysis of over 100 police complaints found that many contained identical language, with several citing possession of Christian literature as evidence of forced conversion, according to UCF. The Supreme Court has previously ruled that such cases, in the absence of specific allegations or direct victims, constitute abuse of criminal process.

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