“The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
— Psalm 34:18 (NIV)
Police in Nepal arrested three Christians in March for sharing the gospel in Rautahat district near the border with India. According to local reports, Pastors Dipak Shresta, Murari Chaudari and Dharmendra Thakur were sharing the gospel in a remote village when members of the Bajrang Dal, a Hindu extremist group based in India, surrounded and beat them up, and reported them to the local police.
The incident highlights the increasing challenges Christians are facing under the anti-conversion law in Nepal. While the 2015 constitution protects the right to practice any faith, it criminalizes proselytization, often leading to legal harassment for Christians. Violation can result in up to 5 years of imprisonment and fines.
Police are holding the three pastors despite lack of evidence. Local reports indicate that their detention has been repeatedly extended, though formal charges have not yet been finalized.
Meanwhile, also in March, a court in western Nepal dropped all charges against Pastor Janmajaya Bhattarai of illegal religious conversion of school children, due to a lack of adequate evidence. Pastor Bhattarai of Lamki-Chuha Community Church was arrested in December 2025 after he had posted information on his Facebook page regarding an outreach programme where Christians distributed gifts and clothing to underprivileged children. Several Hindu members of the school management committee then complained that the pastor was evangelising students in an attempt to convert them, contrary to the agreed terms of the gift distribution event.
Pastor Bhattarai was released from jail after three weeks, after posting bail for 250,000 Nepalese rupees (approximately US$1,600). However, the charges against him remained. The legal battle lasted about 15 months. Reacting to the verdict, Pastor Bhattarai said he felt relieved that the court had dismissed the charges. Senior pastor Tanka Subedi of the Family of God Church in Kathmandu called this a positive step toward safeguarding the fundamental human right to freedom of religion.
Meanwhile, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) secured a parliamentary majority in the March general elections. This government now faces the test of whether, at home and internationally, it will resist the growing influence of Hindu nationalism, which has increasingly targeted the country’s small Christian minority.
Home Group Prayer
Dear Lord,
We thank you for the mountain country of Nepal that you have blessed with so much natural beauty, and for your faithful people who live there. We rejoice at the work that you are doing there, and lift up those who are suffering for the sake of the gospel.
We pray for the three pastors—Dipak Shresta, Murari Chaudari and Dharmendra Thakur—who have been targeted and manhandled for sharing your Word. May the government be merciful, and may you honour the faithfulness of your ministers. Please strengthen these men, and may your Spirit embrace them with your nearness. We pray for a quick resolution to the issue so that they may continue ministering to their congregations.
Lord, we ask that your kingdom come in power in this country. May the light of your countenance bring peace, joy, and freedom to your people!
In Jesus’ name.