On Friday, the Supreme Court of India put a temporary hold on the criminal proceedings against Reverend Father Vineet Vincent Pereira, a Christian priest from Uttar Pradesh. He was booked by local police for allegedly stating that Christianity is the only true religion, which was argued to be disparaging to other faiths. A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government, seeking its response regarding the priest's challenge to a March 18 order from the Allahabad High Court. The High Court had previously refused to quash the proceedings, stating that claiming a religion as the 'only true religion' is inappropriate in a secular nation like India and may violate Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which addresses acts intended to outrage religious feelings. The FIR against Father Pereira noted that he allegedly held prayer meetings making these claims, which hurt the sentiments of members of another community. However, the initial investigation did not find evidence of illegal religious conversion.