On Wednesday (8 April 2025), some angry people demolished an under-construction church in Rewelganj area of Chapra in Saran district of Bihar. This church was being built under the guise of a school in a Dalit village in Ward No. 10 of Jasa Tola. The villagers said that Christian missionaries were forcing them to adopt Christianity by luring them. After this, the police implemented section 163 of BNSS (earlier section 144 of CrPC). The missionary organization has lodged a complaint in response.
According to reports, as soon as the police got the news of vandalism in the church, they reached the spot and took stock of the situation. Saran SSP Kumar Ashish said in a press release on Thursday (9th April 2025) that an electric meter and two centering planks were removed from the church during the vandalism. On the complaint of the missionary organization, the police have registered an FIR and also detained a villager.
The SSP said that on Wednesday (April 8, 2025), a video went viral on social media, in which there was talk of Christian conversion in the area. On the complaint of the villagers, the SHO and the Circle Officer started the investigation. The police have not found any evidence of conversion yet, but due to the seriousness of the matter, the Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Sadar-1, is investigating further.
Christian missionaries were engaged in forced conversion
The villagers say that the construction of the church was going on for two years. A local person Ramnath Manjhi had complained against it on April 3, 2025. Manjhi said that a person named Jyoti Prakash of Jehanabad was talking about buying land and building a school. The villagers also helped in the construction thinking it to be a school. But later everyone was shocked to see the board of the church installed there. Then the missionaries started luring the villagers to become Christians. This angered the people and they stood against the church.
Missionaries used to give ‘holy water’ along with one thousand rupees
Ramnath Manjhi said that the missionaries gradually started coming to the building under construction and started praying every Sunday. Whoever participated in the prayers was given a thousand rupees in an envelope. People were being trapped by luring them with money and ration. The missionaries said that if they convert to Christianity, the expenses of their daughters’ marriage and children’s education would be borne by them. They also started preventing the people from celebrating Hindu festivals like Chhath Puja.
Bihar News : छपरा में चर्च निर्माण का भारी विरोध…लालच देकर धर्म परिवर्तन का आरोप #Bihar #BiharNews pic.twitter.com/Sg51CLD2OD
— Zee Bihar Jharkhand (@ZeeBiharNews) April 8, 2025
Villagers say that the missionaries gave them bottles of special water and asked them to drink it for 20 days. They also advised them to say ‘Hallelujah’. A local woman Vidyavati Devi said, “They used to say that stop worshiping your God, believe in Jesus, then your suffering will go away.”
The church has been opposed before
A case of conversion came to light in Saran earlier as well. In the year 2022, a church was being built in Jatuan village of Sadar block, which was opposed by the Dalits. A local resident had alleged that we were lured with Rs 1 lakh. Due to the opposition of the villagers, people associated with the Christian mission ran away, all of them were said to be from Andhra Pradesh.
