Christian conversion

The Uttar Pradesh Police on Sunday, 26th January arrested an Odisha-based missionary couple for attempting to convert Hindus to Christianity.

OpIndia spoke to complainant Aman Rastogi, who shared that on 25th January, he and his friends, including an ailing member, were invited by accused Baburam to a prayer meeting promising healing water. The gathering turned out to be a Christian event where attendees were pressured to remove tilaks and Hindu idols from their homes, with claims that Yeshu would solve their problems. Aman, an RSS member, and his friends filed a police complaint against the accused.

An FIR has been registered under Section 299 of the Bharatiya Nayay Sanhita (BNS) and Section 4 of the Chhattisgarh Religious Freedom Act in Raipur against three individuals including a pastor. In Balrampur, four individuals were arrested.

The victim was promised that he would received one thousand rupees every and a consolidated sum of Rs. 5 lakh after converting to Christianity.

The couple used to distribute Christian-related religious materials to the Dalits and used financial inducements to convert them into Christianity.

“Headed out to preach here in Nepal and distribute New Testaments and tracts in the local language. Thank you for your prayers,” Daniel Stephan Courney posted on Facebook.

The controversy erupted in November 2024 after a formal complaint was filed against the church alleging that its operations were conducted without legal permission from government departments like the Panchayat Raj, Revenue, Police, and the Noise Pollution Control Board.

Activists from Bajrang Dal acted on a tip-off and arrived at the scene to identify that many Hindus from the Scheduled Caste community had joined the event. Further tensions escalated as the activists questioned why so many Hindus were forced to join the event in the name of Christian prayers.

The two women have been booked under Section 4 of the Odisha Freedom of Religion Act, 1967, and sections of the BNS, including Section 299, 3(5) and 351(2).

On the 16th of December,  journalist Swati Goel Sharma published a thread on X, wherein she divulged the findings of her ground investigation from the Sewa Nagar colony in Ghaziabad. In a video shared by Sharma, one of the accused Ravi was seen trying to defend himself by saying his government document is proof that he is still a Hindu and was not involved in conversion activities.