Pastor Bhattarai arrested and court case filed for alleged evangelism at school-
Schools had asked for Christmas gifts; no tract or Bible distributed
Kathmandu, December 27-
Janmejaya Bhattarai the pastor of Lamki-Chuha Community Church in Kailali has been arrested and taken to the court for allegedly evangelizing school children.
Pastor Bhattarai and his team had gifted 30 bags and clothes to the students of Sahid Smriti Madhyamik Vidhyalaya at Lamki-Chuha Municipality -1 on December 18. He has been distributing gifts to the needy children on the occasion of Christmas for last several years, as a token of the greatest gift God has given humanity, namely the Lord Jesus Christ, his human birth, celebrated as Christmas. 
After some extremists hyped the gift distribution and message Pastor Bhattarai had broadcast live on his facebook, the School Management Committee questioned the school Principal, who then held a press meet and accused the pastor of not heeding their request to only distribute gifts to the children and not to evangelize them.
The schools around the area have a tradition of asking for gifts like clothes, bags, copies and such educational materials which are most needed to the children from economically poor families. That is good and fine. Some schools even expected gifts for all students and teachers too! That’s fine too. After all, Christmas is the greatest gift ever delivered to humanity! But to recant and lie and accuse the pastor for speaking a few words on the occasion is cowardly and unethical on the part of the school management.”
Press Releases released one after another: Hyped Secularism of the Nation on Trial!
Ganesh Dhakal, Chairman of the School Management Committee said that although the objection to preaching to the children was given verbally to the concerned party on the same day, the objection was given in writing on December 24. The press release reads:
“Concerning the issue, Pastor Janmejaya Bhattarai of Lamki Community Church contacted and asked for time to hand over bags, clothes and sports equipment as gifts to 30 underprivileged and gifted students studying in this school on the occasion of Christmas. He was given 15 minutes on December 18, 3:45 p.m. to hand over of the material; during which time the pastor gave Christmas greetings as well as religion. We expressed our verbal objection immediately then. After a few days, the renown of the school was affected and the video was uploaded on the social network, because that kind of action created confusion in the society and the parents, and the school family paid serious attention to such activities. We object to this, the school family will be vigilant to prevent such actions from happening in the future.”
In response, to clarify the situation, Nepal National Christian Society, Lamkichuha Nagar Christian Society, Lamkichuha Nagar Jawan Samiti jointly organized a press conference at Shanti Hotel at Lamki on December 24, Tuesday. The release clarifies,
“A few days ago, the news about the distribution of bags to the students in Shree Shahid Smriti Secondary School, located in Lamkichuha Municipality-1 Lamki, Kailali, has been termed as an attempt by the Christian society to create religious bitterness by destroying social responsibility. And, the society has also expressed its regret.
“Our serious attention has been drawn to the news recently published on different media under the title ‘Bible preaching in the name of distributing bags in Lamkichuha school in Kailali’. We would like to express our regret that the facts presented in the news have tried to create religious animosity by twisting what we did as a part of social responsibility of our community.
On the occasion of the long-standing practice of gifting on the occasion of Christmas, the underprivileged children of Lamkichuha area were provided with gifts at the formal request letter by the schools/institutions…However, portraying it as religious evangelism is wrong and misleading.
Our programs are aimed at serving humanity, not aimed at promoting religious views or proselytizing. Similarly, the allegations leveled against local pastor Janmejaya Bhattarai are completely false and baseless. No religious sermons or Bibles were preached during the educational material distribution program. We call all responsible citizens to discourage any activity that incites communal ill-will; and request all to foster harmony, tolerance and mutual respect. to develop a sense of mutual respect.
Christmas gifts have been distributed for last several years at the request of the educational institutions
The schools around the area have a tradition of asking for gifts like clothes, bags, copies and such educational materials which are most needed to the children from economically poor families. That is good and fine. Some schools even expected gifts for all students and teachers too! That’s fine too. After all, Christmas is the greatest gift ever delivered to humanity! But to recant and lie and accuse the pastor for speaking a few words on the occasion is cowardly and unethical on the part of the school management.
Here are some letters by schools, asking for “gifts on the occasion of Christmas”. Shree Bal Kalyan Secondary School asked in writing on December 5; Shaheed Smriti Ma.Vi. on December 17.
Interestingly enough, the same day and the same week more than a couple Hindu gurus/teachers are also seen preaching/teaching at various schools about Hindu religion. As one commented, in a secular nation all religions must be treated equally; distributing gifts to children and sharing some words about the occasion and religion is not a crime, it is only a part of sociology; not necessarily any theology or indoctrination.
Though many Hindu leaders were seen preaching about Hindu religion to small kids in various schools across the country, yet no other religious groups raised any objection, let alone mayhem about them at all. It’s sad that a religion that boasts of latitudinarian attitude towards all falls into the platitude of forced conversion when a school request a community faith leader to distribute Christmas gifts to its needy students.
Here is link where a Hindu priest is preaching to school children: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559630701921
Latest Update:
Pastor Bhattarai is now kept in the police custody as his case awaits hearing at Kailali District Court. No legal personnel/advocate or help has been assigned him or provided yet; he needs an immediate legal help, namely an advocate to argue his case. Or else, if the police only follows the letter of the constitution and law but ignores the overall secular spirit and the festive occasion of gift distribution at the written request and correspondence of the schools/institutions, pastor Bhattarai is likely to suffer grave injustice.
