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Mau: Three arrested for ‘converting Dalits’, row over who filed the complaint

“A group of men belonging to some Hindu outfit came to our village and asked about the place where prayers were being held by Christians. I directed them to the place. It could be those men who informed the police and got the three persons arrested,” Prakash Pasi told The Indian Express.

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Three men were arrested at Daraura village in Mau district on Wednesday on charges of forcefully converting some Dalits to Christianity and disrespecting other religions. Mau Superintendent of Police Anurag Arya claimed that the FIR was based on a complaint filed by Daraura village head (pradhan) Prakash Pasi, who belongs to Dalit community. However, Pasi denied having filed any police complaint against alleged conversion.

“If he (Pasi) has not lodged the complaint, he should have informed us,” said the SP.

Pasi claimed that the police complaint may have been filed by some members of a Hindu outfit who had visited the village, dominated by Dalits, on Tuesday morning.

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“A group of men belonging to some Hindu outfit came to our village and asked about the place where prayers were being held by Christians. I directed them to the place. It could be those men who informed the police and got the three persons arrested,” Pasi told The Indian Express.

“Why would I file a complaint against people of my own community? I have nothing to do with the activities going on at someone’s home,” he said.

Festive offer

On the other hand, according to the FIR, Christian missionaries were allegedly converting people by spreading misconceptions and luring them at the village.

“On Tuesday, at the house of one Kapildev Ram, who owns a fair price shop in the village, he and his family members were spreading misconceptions, threatening people and luring them into Christianity. It should be noted that such meetings are held every Tuesday at Ram’s residence. I (Pasi) had got information that the owner of the shop and his family members were mentally exploiting villagers. Two local clergies – Ajay Kumar and Omprakash belonging to a missionary group – were also involved in the act,” the FIR alleges.

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“When I (Pasi) went to Ram’s house around noon on Tuesday, I saw that around 25 people were there, and Ajay Kumar and Omprakash were praising Christianity. They were saying that people who don’t believe in Jesus Christ will suffer. They also said that those who follow him will free from all problems and diseases. They were humiliating other religions and when I asked them something, the people started beating me up which led to chaos there,” read the FIR

Kapildev Ram, Omprakash and Ajay Kumar have been booked under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups ), 195A (threatening any person to give false evidence) and 508 (act caused by inducing person to believe that he will be rendered an object of the divine displeasure), and under relevant sections of the Religious Institutions Act, and section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1932.

They were sent to jail after being produced in a local court on Wednesday, said the station house officer (SHO) of Ranipur police station, Ashok Kumar Yadav.

First uploaded on: 29-11-2019 at 05:09 IST
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