Christians hauled to court in Chattisgarh for “attempting to convert”

Raipur – A pastor and eight members of a church in Durg district have been hauled to the court by the local Hindus for inciting violence between the two communities by “attempting to convert” Hindu villagers with lure of money.

On September 26, the nine accused appeared before the district judge of Durg for the third hearing of their case, Compass Direct has reported.

According to advocate Ratiq Khan, who is representing the accused, the judge offered to dismiss the case if the Christians would agree to stop their activities. “But, since the allegation made against them was false, we refused to do so and instead asked for another hearing,” Khan said.

The next hearing has been scheduled for November 28.

On June 6, two men including Pastor Jaichand Dongre and seven women were attacked by a Hindu mob who alleged that they were offering money to convert innocent Hindu villagers to Christianity. After being manhandled and beaten, the mob dragged them to the local police station and had them arrested. The police, however, did not file any charges against the attackers.

According to Pastor Dongre, local activists of the Hindu militant group, the Bajrang Dal, had threatened to him on September 25 that “they would have to face dire consequences if they did not close down the church.”

However, local police inspector, Narendra Sharma, pleaded ignorance about the threats received by Dongre and asserted that there was enough evidence against the pastor which prompted the police to arrest him and other Christian workers.

“Dongre offered money to villagers asking them to convert, and told them that their diseases would be healed of they converted to Christianity,” he said. “The whole village is against him because of such activities.”

Pastor Dongre has, however, vehemently denied such allegations, stating, “We are all poor. Most of the accused are laborers. How can we offer any money to anyone?”

This is not the first time a Christian has been accused of “converting” another in Chattisgarh.

On July 10, over two dozen Christians were detained by the police after some Hindu extremist groups accused them of forcibly and fraudulently “converting” innocent Hindus.

However, all except two – Vijay Nikunj and Salen Nikunj of the Gosner Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ambikapur township – were released the following day.

Chattisgarh is one of the strongholds of the Hindu fundamentalist outfits in India. Anti–conversion laws are presently in force in the states of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, and Arunachal Pradesh.

The state of Chattisgarh was created in November 2000, splitting it from Madhya Pradesh and it has continued to retain the Freedom of Religion Act adopted by Madhya Pradesh in 1968.