Bahraich: 24 held in UP after claims of conversion

Charges of breach of peace were added to the case later, it is learnt.
Nanpara Station House Officer Hemant Kumar said, “The arrested people were produced in a court that granted bail to women accused. The men have been sent to judicial custody. Those arrested are from different villages of the area under the jurisdiction of our police station.”

According to the police, the complainant, Deepanshu Srivastava, a Bajrang Dal functionary, claimed to have received information that more than 100 people had gathered at the house of Babu Ram Raidas, a local resident from the Dalit community, for mass prayer. Some people were persuading others to adopt Christianity and would ask them to regularly participate in mass prayers, he claimed.

“I went to the spot with my fellow activists and entered the hall alone to find that villagers were being persuaded to adopt Christianity. I raised objection when they made some remarks about Hindu gods and goddesses. On this, they thrashed me. They also had a heated exchange with my colleagues later. We informed the police and administration about this,” said Deepanshu.

The SHO said the anti-conversion law was not invoked against the accused. “It could not be established whether they were involved in conversion activities.”