Uttarakhand: On Monday, protests raged in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district for a third day in a row after fighting broke out at a gathering on the eve of Christmas over claims of unauthorised conversions. According to authorities, six people have already been arrested in connection with the investigation.
Pastor Lazarus Cornelius of Union Church (Mussoorie) and his wife Sushma Cornelius were leading the Christmas prayers at a religious facility in Chibala village on Friday when a mob of over 100 people stormed in and attacked them, according to the police. They were accused of performing forced conversions.
While members of the right-wing group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) claimed the event was planned to “lure people to convert by giving them money and offering them trip,” Pastor Cornelius refuted the claims, saying the occasion was to celebrate Christmas and the opening of their centre for social work.
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Police have two FIRs filed and six persons are being held as a result of the allegations that were made by both parties
On Monday, a number of right-wing groups, including the VHP, organised a protest march starting at the major market in Purola and sent a letter to the sub-divisional magistrate. As a sign of opposition, the shutters of several stores in Purola market were also left down.
Jitendra Kumar, SDM (Purola), said that protesters had delivered a memo to his office regarding claims of forced conversions.
Virendra Singh Rawat, the working president of the VHP’s Purola branch and the person who led the protest said, “Around 150-250 were gathered there and the representatives of Christian Missionaries were converting people. We showed up and asked why are you converting people. But they said it is their right and threatened to call the police. Meanwhile, a woman from their group attacked a woman from our group with a stick. It infuriated other women present at the spot. However, we didn’t attack anybody.”
“They (Christian missionaries) have been engaged in such acts for the last two years. It’s a conspiracy against Hindus. They are luring people to convert by giving them money and offering them trips. Why do the police and administration have no intelligence on this?”
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Pastor Cornelius denied the claims, saying:
“We have been engaged in social work at Purola for many years. So, we decide to buy land for a social work centre. On Friday, we went there to inaugurate the centre and celebrate Christmas with our local people. We were yet to begin the programme when a small group of 10-15 people showed up there and started questioning us,alleging forced conversion. Soon, at least 120 people gathered and started pelting stones. They assaulted our women, children and tearing clothes, and passing derogatory remarks against our faith and our God…”
“I intervened when they started beating one of our boys very badly, the crowd jumped on me and beat me around the head, and punched me. I still have retinal bleeding in my eye… The police were standing there but were not doing anything… Even though we filed our complaint first, the FIR was registered after theirs.”
Director General of Police Ashok Kumar stated, “Our investigation into the matter is underway. It’s too early to say which party was at fault.”
Under the condition of anonymity, a top police officer stated, “The allegations of forced conversions appear to be untrue. We will get to the bottom of the issue, though.
The incident happened a few days after Uttarakhand Governor Gurmit Singh signed the Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2022, making illegal conversions a serious offence with a maximum 10-year prison sentence that is cognizable and non-bailable.
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