By Kanwardeep Singh / The Tikes Of India
BAREILLY: Nine people have been booked by police in Bareilly under sections 3 and 5 (1) of the Anti-conversion Act for allegedly trying to convince people to convert to Christianity in Bithri Chainpur area of UP’s Bareilly district.
The accused reportedly held a meeting in the house of one Mamta Devi on Sunday, when police took them into custody following a complaint from a member of a right wing group. The accused, however, claimed that they had come to hold a prayer to ward off evil from the village and police had let them off after speaking to locals. However, after pressure from few right wing activists, an FIR was registered at Bithri police station on Monday evening.
Bithri police station SHO Sheetanshu Sharma told TOI, “We received a complaint that a group of people are offering people a new house for changing their religion and nearly 40 people had been gathered in a house by this gang. After receiving the complaint, sub-inspector Kumresh Tyagi rushed to the village and found that prayers were offered by a group of people without permission.”
“Most of the participants denied the fact that they were lured to convert to Christianity. We let people, go but later a few people came and gave statements indicating that they were offered money to change their religion. As a precautionary measure, we have registered an FIR in this case against nine people and are investigating the matter. No one has been arrested so far. We will send them a notice to record their statement,” he added.
This article first appeared on timesofindia.indiatimes.com