Chhattisgarh: Five including pastor, held for allegedly spreading fallacy and luring people to follow Christianity.

In another incident of luring people to follow Christianity while spreading fallacy about the Sanatan Dharma
reported from Chhattisgarh, as many as five people, including women, have been arrested by the police after
members of a Hindu outfit lodged their strong protest over the incident in the Korea district of Chhattisgarh.

The incident pertains to the Indira Aawas colony of Chhindad locality under the Churcha police station limits
of Korea district, where members of the Christian community were allegedly involved in inciting people to
follow Christianity through inducement on Wednesday evening, February 28.
Though, the information of such a gathering soon reached the locals’ members associated with the Dharm
Jagran, who lodged a strong opposition to the gathering and subsequently filed a police complaint on the next
day, following which the accused were nabbed by the police.
According to the details of the complaint filed by Pradeep Patwa, a resident of Cherwapara village, members of
the Christian community, including pastor Dharamsai Tirkey, had gathered in the house of one of his
neighbor, Vijay Sarthi, where they were inciting others to embrace and practice Christianity through the
means of fallacy on Wednesday evening.

The complainant has alleged that the pastor and his associates, while propagating the benefits of embracing
Christianity, were portraying the Hindu god, goddess in bad light. Further, it’s been alleged that the pastor and
others were also propagating the drawbacks of being a Hindu, claiming that those who believe in Hindu
religion are prone to diseases and poor economic conditions.

Meanwhile, upon receiving the information about the said gathering, a police team also reached the spot and
detained as many as five members of the Christian community, including three women. The accused were
later arrested and produced before the court on Friday, March 1 from where they had been sent to jail.
Speaking with the Organiser representative, Kuber Sahu, one of the members of the Dharm Jagran, said that a
gathering was called where the missionaries were inciting people for conversion, we filed a police complaint
about the incident on Thursday evening, and as of now, the police have produced the accused in court, from
where they have been sent to the jail by the magistrate.
Meanwhile, the detention of the pastor and his associates has also triggered a protest from the local Christian
community, which has submitted a memorandum to the district collector seeking action against the alleged
misconduct by the members of the Hindu community.

According to the deatils of the memorandum submitted by the Sanyukt Masihi Sewa Samiti Chhattisgarh, the Christian body has claimed that a few members of their community had gone to attend a prayer ceremony at Sunita and Vijay Sarthi house at Chindaar where the members of the Hindu outfit allegedly started abusing and misbehaving with them by labelling allegation of promotion of conversion.

Illegal Conversion in Surguja division
Significantly, cases of conversion through illegal means have been coming to the fore from separate corners of
the State including the northern region of Surguja which is home to a significant tribal population.
Most of these cases of conversion reported from the region reflect a more or less similar modus operandi, i.e.
conversion through the means of inducement and fallacy, often triggering sharp reactions from the local
Hindu community and activists who suspect a major ploy behind the surge in such cases.

Notably, the issue of conversion has been a focal point of contention between the two prominent political parties of the State i.e. the Congress and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been a long advocate of a stringent anti-conversion lawin the State.
Recently, a number of ministers including the Chief Minister, Vishnu Deo Sai has also dropped hints that the State government is gearing up to introduce amendments or enact a new anti-conversion law to deal with the surge in cases of conversion.

This article is originally published on https://organiser.org/2024/03/02/224633/bharat/chhattisgarh-five-including-pastor-held-for-alleged-conversion-attempt-through-fallacy-and-lure-in-korea/