Christian teacher in India arrested on false charges of trafficking, conversion of students
HYDERABAD, India — Police in central India on July 26 beat a Christian educator and filed baseless charges against him of human trafficking and fraudulent conversion of eight Christian students he was escorting to a Bible institute, sources said. After arresting Liju Kuriakose off of a bus in Manikpur, Chhattisgarh state, police officers told the students, including five minors, to give false statements that they were being trafficked, said one of the youths, a 17-year-old identified only as Govardhan. “We all had vehemently refused and told the police that we have been Christians for a while and are not new converts,” Govardhan told Morning Star News. “We cannot tell lies about the brother who came all the way from Kerala to help us. When their attempts failed, police sent us to the Child Welfare Committee’s home.” Kuriakose had come from Kerala state to ensure the safe travel of the students, ages 15 to 22, and all from tribal Christian families. They had boarded the bus in Manikpur bound for a railway station in Bilaspur, where they were to take a train to the Bible institute in Kochi, Kerala state, Govardhan said. “All eight of us had secured admission in a Bible institute in Kochi,
UP Man Arrested For Converting 230 Dalit Families To Christianity: Cops
Accused Bajrang Rawat, a Christian from Lucknow, was living on the railway land falling under the Lonikatra police station limits here for the last one year, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Akhilesh Narayan Singh said. Barabanki: Police arrested a man today who allegedly converted 230 Dalit families to Christianity promising to cure their members suffering from any ailment. Accused Bajrang Rawat, a Christian from Lucknow, was living on the railway land falling under the Lonikatra police station limits here for the last one year, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Akhilesh Narayan Singh said. Some copies of the Bible and other Christian books were also recovered from his residence, ASP Singh said. On the basis of a complaint by one Vijay Hindustani from Haidergarh town, a case was registered against Rawat under relevant sections of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, the ASP said, adding that efforts are on to ascertain involvement of other people who were helping the accused. In his complaint, Mr Hindustani, an activist of a Hindu outfit, alleged that when he, along with other activists, visited the spot, he found many Hindu women of the area there. Mr Hindustani said that Rawat used to call the poor people
