Pastor among four arrested in UP on alleged conversion charges

 July 15 (IANS) Four persons, including a pastor from Uttarakhand, have been arrested in a village in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad district for allegedly converting people to Christianity by luring them on the pretext of giving benefits, police officials said. The police have lodged an FIR under appropriate sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, on the intervention of activists of two Hindu outfits, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal. Thakurdwara Circle Officer (CO) Rajesh Kumar said that the incident happened in Rammanawala village under Thakurdwara police station when some people held a Christian religious congregation. He said the activists of the two Hindu outfits intervened and informed the police alleging forced religious conversion through allurement. Moradabad VHP district unit general secretary Pankaj Singh Pal lodged an FIR against four people, including one Kuldeep, who claimed to be a pastor of Uddham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand, and three local villagers, including two brothers Jaipal and Amarjeet, and one Mukesh. He alleged in the FIR that they give people money as well as fridges, televisions, bicycles, motorcycles and sewing machines for converting to Christianity. He said people instrumental in getting others converted are given Rs 25,000 while the pastor, who converts them gets Rs 35,000 on each conversion. The CO said the FIR under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 351(2) for insulting and 351(3) for criminal intimidation as well as Sections 3 and 5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, was lodged with Thakurdwara police station on Saturday. He added that an investigation into the matter was underway. --IANS amita/khz