Recently, the police have arrested 14 people associated with a local church in Uttar Pradesh’s Fatehpur for forceful conversion of Hindus to Christianity.
Since April, the police have arrested 40 people connected to the Evangelical Church of India (ECI) in the Hariharganj locality of Fatehpur, with 14 arrests occurring between 30 October and November 9. Apart from this, the police last month also arrested five people connected with the Naya Jeevan Church in Fatehpur’s Lalauli area.
“The Evangelical Church of India is associated with the NGO World Vision,” Kotwali station house officer (SHO) Amit Mishra said.
“They would give all kinds of allurements, like admissions to children in missionary schools and jobs to youngsters in the local missionary hospital and NGOs. They would go to villages and extend financial help to people. They would buy buffaloes for those who couldn’t afford them,” he said.
“Those arrested include converted Hindus from different states like West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, and Uttarakhand. So far, 14 persons have been arrested this time apart from the others arrested in April,” he said.
Earlier, on November 4, ten people were arrested and booked under the provisions of the state’s Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, as well as sections 506 and 153 A of the IPC.
“Ten people arrested pertaining to religious conversions in Fatehpur. Two were arrested earlier while four were arrested in Lalauli village. Others will be nabbed soon. Police being sensitive & strict on mass conversions incident,” Rajesh Kumar Singh, SP, Fatehpur said on November 4.
The Fatehpur Police is sensitive and alert towards religious conversion. Anybody associated with such incidents wouldn’t be spared by the police, and strict actions will be taken against them, the SP added.
