Sonbhadra, 15 Dec: Propagating religion and promoting good things about religion is not a crime, a local court in UP’s Sonbhadra district noted on December 14 as it granted bail to six people accused of converting lower caste and marginalized members of the Hindu community to Christianity through allurements and inducements.
In the last two weeks, authorities in eastern Uttar Pradesh have detained at least four people from south Indian states on suspicion of attempting to convert lower caste and tribal Hindus by promising them a better life, free education, and health care.
In the first case, which was filed in Sonbhadra on the complaint of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad member, police booked 42 people under Sections 3 and 5 (1) of UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021.
Nine people were detained, including one from Andhra Pradesh and one from Tamil Nadu. In another case, on December 11, police in Sant Kabir Nagar detained a couple originally from Kerala on allegations of allegedly persuading a woman from the backward caste Nishad group to convert and disrespecting Hindu deities.
“They were creating a situation of caste conflict,” Narsingh Tripathi, the VHP volunteer who filed the police complaint in Sonbhadra, said.
On November 29, a FIR was filed at Sonbhadra’s Chopan police station on Tripathi’s complaint, alleging that the accused were attempting to convert “bholi bhali” (naive) and destitute individuals living in tribal-dominated regions. They were also plagued by superstition, according to Tripathi.
The 42 people named in the FIR include Christian social workers Jai Prabhu, Chheka Emmanuel, and K Sojanya. Prabhu, a 40-year-old teacher from Chennai, has been residing in Sonbhadra since 2011 after attending a local church. Chekka Emmanuel and his wife K. Sojanya are originally from Vijaywada, Andhra Pradesh, but have lived in Sonbhadra for several years.
Pastors Sanjay John, Chotu Ranjan, Sohanram, and Sant Lal Gond are among those named in the FIR, as is Prakash HL Marandi (a teacher at St. Joseph’s School Shaktinagar, a co-educational English Medium School founded in 1978 and managed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allahabad Education Society), sanitation workers Durgawati Devi and Parmanand, and priest Fr. Paras. The majority of those charged are from the Dalit, OBC, and tribal populations.
Tripathi accused them of financially assisting destitute tribals and spreading money and other necessities among them in order to convert them to Christianity.
“They fooled impoverished and uneducated people by offering free schooling, school uniforms, and books to their children and performing jhaad-phoonk (a type of exorcism) to heal them of diseases during changai sabhas held every Sunday, he said in the FIR.
Tripathi further said that the accused supplied free care in Christian hospitals while enticing tribal residents to think that “Jesus Christ is the only Eshwar (lord)” and “Christian faith is the only way to kalyan (welfare).”
He said that with such allures and promises, “they (the people) are psychologically mesmerized towards conversion.”
Sonbhadra police ASP (headquarters) Kalu Singh stated that residents from the southern states have been settling in Sonbhadra for several years. So far, nine of the 42 have been apprehended, he added. Over 100 religious objects used by the accused to convert individuals, according to police, were discovered. Ten Bibles, 13 holy texts, 307 prayer booklets, five talking Bible audio tapes, a convention song CD, and various prayer books, including one titled ‘UP ke liye prarthana pushtak’ (A book of prayer for UP), were among them.
While the FIR was filed in the Chopan area, the accused were spread across the region, which is famed for its mineral wealth and borders Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.
Tripathi claimed to have detected a “web” of illicit conversion. “What motivated them to travel all the way to Sonbhadra from Chennai and other southern states?? he quipped, when questioned why he suspected Jai Prabhu, Emmanuel Chekka, and K. Sojanya of unlawful conversion, he responded, “They didn’t come here for a job or business.”
Prabhu, Emmanuel, and four others argued in their bail petitions that the claims in the FIR against them were false and fabricated, and that police were abusing anti-conversion laws. They claimed that neither complainant Tripathi nor anybody else had been converted by them. There is no mention of anyone who became a Christian. “The complainant regards himself as the contractor of Hindu faith,” the accused stated.
Prabhu and Emmanuel both stated in court that they were instructors. Sonbhadra Sessions Judge Ashok Kumar Yadav granted them bail, stating that it did not appear that the accused converted anyone by force or against their desires at this point.
Judge Yadav stated that it “cannot be said with certainty” that they mislead individuals by offering inducements to quit their religion and convert to Christianity.
The court also remarked on the religious material taken from the accused, stating that it was not illegal for a person who practiced a religion to have religious material linked to it in his or her possession.
SHO Chopan Vishwanath Pratap Singh stated that while nine people were detained, further evidence was being gathered against possibly others. According to Singh, police were taking statements from “independent witnesses” who were reportedly converted at these sessions and compiling “supporting evidence” for Tripathi’s charges in the FIR.
He said the accused had a “network throughout the entire district.”
Satyajeet Gupta, SP of Sant Kabir Nagar, said a case had been registered at Khalilabad police station against Jose Pulluvelil and Elma Pulluvelil, both from Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district, on the complaint of one Nirmala Nishad, who claimed the accused promised her she would find her missing son if she converted to Christianity.
Nishad additionally claimed that the accused insulted Hindu deities, tore her kalava (religious threat worn around the wrist), and removed her mangalsutra and bichiya (toe ring).
Nishad said that the accused would persuade Dalit people to convert during prarthna sabhas (prayer sessions) conducted in her community every Sunday.
According to Gupta, the pair was taken into judicial custody after their statements were recorded.
