Orissa Police Cracks Down on Conversion, Arrests Pastor

Bhubaneswar, Orissa – The sleepy village of Kilipal in the coastal district of Jagatsinghpur, about 80 kms. away from Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa, received a rude awakening when the police arrested a pastor and his associate for allegedly trying to convert Hindus to Christianity, according to news report. The names of those arrested were disclosed as Pastor Subash Samal and Dhaneswar Kandi.

The accused have been charged with hurting the religious sentiments of others and with violating laws that prohibit religious conversion by fraudulent or forceful means. It is alleged that Pastor Samal and Kandi had offered Rs.50,000 to a man to change his religion, a senior police official disclosed. The police also suspect them of persuading other people of the village to convert to Christianity and have detained them for questioning.

Kilipal, which has a population of about 500, has some 17 Christian families. The rest of its population comprise of Hindus. The village also has around 200 Dalits. Pastor Samal, who belongs to the Dalit community, converted to Christianity about 10 years ago and became a pastor of the local village church.

It is reported that because of his efforts, about eight Dalit families adopted Christianity last year. However, in the first week of February, a group of Hindu extremists forcefully re–converted them to Hinduism at a religious ceremony. It was the same group that also tonsured seven women at the time, an act that sent waves of repulsion all over the nation and was met with protests by several Human Rights groups.