Members of Bajrang Dal on January 1, 2023, filed a complaint at the Mirzapur police station. A case of religious conversion has been registered in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. People have been accused of luring some family members to accept Christianity by offering them money.
District convenor of Bajarang Dal Harish Kaushik said individuals in the area were offered Rs 3 lakhs to convert to Christianity by evangelists. Victims registered a police complaint in this regard.
Saharanpur Police acknowledged the incident on Twitter and added, “In regard to the case, the station in-charge Mirzapur has been directed for required action,” the tweet posted on January 1.
प्रकरण के सम्बन्ध में थाना प्रभारी मिर्जापुर को आवश्यक कार्यवाही हेतु निर्देशित कर दिया गया है।
— Saharanpur Police (@saharanpurpol) January 1, 2023
BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh Government is taking cognizant actions against forcible religious conversions since coming into power in the state. To counter the cases of religious conversions, the UP government brought the Prohibition of Illegal Religious Conversion Act in November 2020.
“Bajrang Dal had got information that Hindus are being forcibly converted in village Raipur,” said Bajrang Dal leader Harish Kaushik in the written complaint, adding, “when Bajrang Dal workers arrived at the location, they discovered that some persons had forcibly converted Hindu families into Christianity. We then brought the victim’s family members to the police station and filed a complaint in this regard. We demand that the administration take firm action against the evangelists who are forcibly converting vulnerable and poor Hindus by luring them with money.”
As written in the complaint, Yogesh and his sister Sunita, who live in Raipur village under the jurisdiction of Mirzapur police station, were offered money to convert to Christianity. Sunita was invited to travel to Manju’s residence. Shadiram, Manju’s husband, lured both Yogesh and his sister to convert their religion by offering them 3 lakh rupees.
Accused Shadiram and Manju called Surendra Prasad and Hari Singh to their residence, where four of them converted victims to Christianity. The accused refused to pay the promised 3 lakhs to the victim after conversion.
Victims were frightened by the accused, threatening them with illness or death if they did not stop demanding the money. As per Bajrang Dal activist, the accused told victims that if they continued asking for money, it would enrage Jesus Christ.
A case of religious conversion is also reported in Uttar Pradesh Sitapur; on December 22, 2022, Sitapur police discovered foreign funding to an NGO run by prime accused David Asthana. Police booked David Asthana and his wife Rohini Asthana on December 19 on charges of forcible conversion after visiting Sitapur along with tourists from Brazil.
Similar cases were also reported in Merrut, in which Christian missionaries allegedly forced, lured and coerced vulnerable Hindus into conversion. Police booked nine people for alleged forced conversions to Christianity.
BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh government is taking cognizant actions against forcible religious conversions since coming into power in the state. To counter the cases of religious conversions, the UP government brought the Prohibition of Illegal Religious Conversion Act in November 2020.
Since the introduction of the Prohibition of Illegal Religious Conversion Act in Uttar Pradesh in the year 2020, within two years, Over 507 accused have been arrested after the registration of 291 cases.
The Union Government is also planning to take appropriate steps to deal with the cases of religious conversions, on November 28, 2022, the Centre told SC that the right to freedom of religion does not include a fundamental right to “convert people to a particular religion” and added that will take appropriate actions to deal with it.
