– Ronita Torcato

Mumbai Police have registered a case against the organisers of a Christian prayer meeting in a school including Ramesh Gupta, Usha Gupta, Aman Dubey and Mukesh Yadav, under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Maharashtra Prevention of Human Sacrifice and Other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Witchcraft Act.

Held at Rejoice International School, Malad on May 10, 2026, the gathering, perceived by the devout as a healing effort, was viewed by critics as a violation of the law.

The event escalated into a controversy that reached the floor of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

Responding to a question raised by BJP MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar, the minister of state for home, Dr. Pankaj Bhoyar, said that the state is taking a strict stance.

A thorough police investigation is now underway into the meeting, he said.

Malad police who stepped in to investigate said there was no evidence of forced religious conversion — a common flashpoint in such controversies.

However, the complainant Asha Ashok Upadhyay and her son Aditya, alleged a different kind of pressure, claiming they were advised to remove portraits of Hindu gods and goddesses from their home.

Concluding that the programme crossed into promoting superstition, the Malad Police registered a case against the organisers of the event.

“Strict action will be taken against those found guilty,” Dr. Bhoyar told the Assembly.

Dr. Bhoyar also announced that the government will soon issue strict directives through the school education department, banning religious prayer programmes of this nature from being hosted on school grounds in the future.

To devout Christians, the crackdown disregards the monotheistic Christian concept of faith healing that spiritual, mental, and physical restoration can be channeled through prayer, the laying on of hands and the internalising of the Sacred Scripture.

Pilgrim spots like Velankanni in Tamil Nadu, the Cross of Miracles in Goa’s Se Cathedral, Quebec (Canada), Fátima in Portugal, and Lourdes in France have reported miraculous healings.

In Lourdes, cures have been officially verified by the International Medical Association of Lourdes as scientifically inexplicable. The Bureau des Constatations Médicales allows doctors of any faith or no faith to examine the cases and test results.

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