[ad_1]
Police said 24 people, including 13 women, were arrested for allegedly breaching the peace after volunteers from a Hindu organization objected to mass prayers organized at a house in Sidanpurva village of Uttar Pradesh’s Bahrich district on Sunday.
An FIR was registered at Nanpara Police Station against 18 people by name based on a complaint filed by a Bajrang Dal activist. Police said the defendants held mass prayers to persuade people to convert to Christianity and were allegedly critical of Hindu gods and goddesses.
Initially, the FIR was registered under Sections 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts to anger religious feelings by insulting religion or religious beliefs), 298 (uttering words to hurt the religious feelings of others), 323 (voluntarily causing harm) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
It was learned that the breach of peace charges were added to the case at a later date.
Hemant Kumar, Nanpara Station House Officer said, “The detainees were presented in a court which gave bail to the accused women. The men have been sent to judicial custody. The detainees are from different villages in the area under the jurisdiction of our police station.”
According to the police, the complainant, Dipanshu Srivastava, an employee of the Bajrang Dal, claimed to have received information that more than 100 people had gathered at the home of Babu Ram Redas, a local Dalit, for collective prayers. He claimed that some people were persuading others to convert to Christianity and asking them to participate regularly in group prayers.
I went to the site with my fellow activists and entered the hall alone to find that the villagers had been persuaded to convert to Christianity. I raised an objection when they made some remarks about Hindu Gods and Goddesses. On this, they beat me. They also had a heated exchange with my colleagues later. “We have reported this to the police and management,” Dipancho said.
The SHO said the anti-conversion law was not invoked against the defendants. “It cannot be established whether they were involved in diversion activities.”
[ad_2]
