The Chitradurga administration submitted an inquiry report on the allegations of forceful conversions to Christianity and said it was found that the families had voluntarily undergone conversion. The inquiry was initiated after BJP’s Hosadurga MLA Gulihatti Shekhar alleged that over 20,000 people of his constituency had been converted to Christianity along with his mother. The officers, led by tahsildar Y Thippeswamy, conducted an inquiry into the matter and found that 42 families in the two villages had converted to Christianity and the inquiry concluded that there was no substance in the allegation and all conversions were voluntary. Chitradurga deputy commissioner Kavitha confirmed that an inquiry was conducted by the administration and found that there were no forceful conversions in the two villages. “The inquiry was conducted in one village in Srirampura Hobli and another in Madadakere Hobli on alleged forceful religious conversions based on a complaint and no survey was conducted,” Kavitha said. Shekhar too confirmed that an inquiry was conducted and not a survey. The MLA, who had raised the issue in the assembly on September 21, had recently conducted a ‘ghar wapsi’ programme of eight families, including his 72-year-old mother, and all converted back to Hinduism. The Karnataka government is likely to introduce the Anti-Conversion Bill in the next legislative session in Belagavi beginning from December 13. Meanwhile, Bengaluru Archbishop Reverend Peter had written to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai opposing the proposed Bill. So far, three times such a memorandum has been submitted to the Chief Minister since September this year, saying the Christian community in the state opposes the proposed law to ban forcible religious conversions in one voice.
