Vishal

BREAKING: After years of our continuous follow-up and communication with the MHA Foreigners Division, Bureau of Immigration and Indian consular offices in the US, the Government of India cancelled the OCI registration of John Daniel of Laymen's Evangelical Fellowship India over Christian missionary activities in Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The Madras High Court has upheld the cancellation, finding that he had engaged in missionary preaching without the required permission. WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT? Laymen’s Evangelical Fellowship India (LEFI), registered in Nungambakkam, Chennai, is associated with John Daniel, an Indian-born American citizen engaged in religious and missionary activities in India on behalf of the organisation while holding OCI status. LEFI’s presence is particularly notable in Andhra Pradesh’s coastal districts of Prakasam, Guntur and Nellore, and its wider network of churches across India warrants systematic documentation and scrutiny of compliance with applicable laws. CASE OF STUARTPURAM VILLAGE, ANDHRA PRADESH? Stuartpuram was historically associated with communities branded as “criminal tribes” under the British colonial Criminal Tribes Act of 1871. This stigma reflected colonial policies of collective suspicion and social control, not any inherent criminality of the communities concerned. From the mid-20th century, Christian organisations, including LEFI undertook outreach activities in the region involving religious conversions in the guise of moral education and employment initiatives. Network of churches established by LEFI across India is provided below: Andhra Pradesh: 354 Churches Telangana: 42 Churches Tamil Nadu: 117 Churches Andaman & Nicobar Islands: 1 Church Arunachal Pradesh: 5 Churches Assam: 5 Churches Birhar: 1 Church Chattisgarh: 2 Churches New Delhi: 1 Church Goa: 1 Church Gujarat: 5 Churches Haryana: 2 Churches Himachal Pradesh: 3 Churches Jammu & Kashmir: 3 Churches Jharkhand: 3 Churches Karnataka: 10 Churches Kerala: 3 Churches Madhya Pradesh: 2 Churches Maharashtra: 9 Churches Manipur: 8 Churches Meghalaya: 3 Churches Mizoram: 1 Church Nagaland: 2 Churches Odisha: 7 Churches Punjab: 4 Churches Rajasthan: 1 Church Sikkim: 1 Church Tripura: 1 Church Uttarakhand: 1 Church Uttar Pradesh: 7 Churches West Bengal: 8 Churches