Victims said that the accused persuaded them with money and food for religious conversion and later terrorized them.
Nine people had been booked by Uttar Pradesh Police in an alleged forced conversions case in Meerut, officials said.
In a complaint registered under the sections of the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, Police arrested the accused for forcing 400 people to convert to Christianity. According to the reports, the accused terrorized the people and instructed them not to take the police into the loop.
The FIR mentioned that the accused had helped the people during the Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdown and stimulated them to visit the church.
Advertisement
As per the reports, the victims reached Brahmaputri police station in Meerut along with a BJP leader and said that the accused persuaded them with money and food for religious conversion.
The complainants told the police, “We were pressurised to religious conversion and were told to change our names on our Aadhaar Cards. When we were worshipping on the day of Diwali, the accused barged into our houses and vandalised the idols of deities. They announced when you have converted your religion, then why are you doing this? When we revolted against this, to which they threatened us to death”.
The accused named in the FIR are Chhabili alias Shiva, Binwa, Anil, Sardar, Nikku, Basant, Prema, Titli and Rani.
Further investigations by the cops are underway.
Earlier in another instance Rajasthan Minister Pratap Khachariyawas had announced that the government will probe the alleged assault on a Dalit family in a village of Baran district of the state as reports arose that some people from the community had adapted to Buddhism following the incident.
A press release by Zila Berwa Mahasabha Yuva Morcha, Rajasthan underlined that a Dalit family was assaulted for worshipping a Goddess during a religious procession on Friday, following which the Dalit organizations carried out a protest in Bhoolon village, Rajasthan.
Advertisement
