Jharkhand: Locals in Garhwa confront Christian missionaries, hand them over to police

A group of Christian missionaries engaged in conversion activities in some areas of Jharkhand have faced backlash from locals.

The residents of the Tandwa neighbourhood of Garhwa city in Jharkhand on Wednesday, 14th June, caught a group of people connected with Christian missionary organisations who had travelled from Andhra Pradesh and Bihar for suspicious conversion activities. Afterwards, they were handed over to the police, a report in Jagran mentioned.

Police took those people into custody and interrogated them. Approximately 60 persons affiliated with Christian organisations are rumoured to have come to Garhwa from other states in order to convert people. They have organised themselves into various squads and have been located in various parts of the city.

The Jagran report mentions that the team also has women members. G. Raju, one of the people apprehended, identified himself as a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel. He is originally from Andhra Pradesh and claims to be posted in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh. A large number of religious literature related to Jesus Christ have been recovered from them.

The police are looking into the matter but are refraining from making any comments at the moment. A group of 25-30 locals from the Tandwa area requested to file a First Information Report (FIR) and book the concerned individuals for using misinformation and allurement to convert locals to Christianity.

There is significant anger in the populace as a result of the incident. The majority of those captured are reportedly from Munger and Guntur in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, respectively. A person named Ashutosh Anand son of Madan Prasad is reportedly the group leader and his current whereabouts are unknown. He is a native of Nawagarhi which falls under the Muffasil police station area in Munger and was living in the Tandwa Mohalla.

The locals have accused him of trying to convert people while living in a leased home with his entire family. He has reportedly been carrying out missionary and conversion activities for the past six years throughout Garhwa.

He called the campaign team from the southern state to Garhwa to intensify his campaign. The 60 members went to different areas of the city to share information with people about Christianity, distribute books and motivate them to get converted, as per the report. Some of them were housed in the city council’s shelter facilities, while others rented properties.

Those in police custody comprise G. Raju, Adaina, from district Kurnool, K. Nagesh, Prem Kumar, Praveen Kumar, B. Rajesh from Guntur, Ajay Ram from Kitasoti in Garhwa, Priya Bharti, Munni Devi, and Ruhi Devi all from Nauvagarhi, Munger among others.

Four people were recently arrested for a religious conversion drive and distributing related publications under the pretext of offering free education in Chakradharpur City, West Singbhum district, Jharkhand. Three women and a man in the Kendo panchayat of Devgaon used to make their way to the Neeche Tola’s Kolsai village and stated that they were there to encourage education and give out supplies like pens, pencils, notebooks etc., to the children.

The locals, however, discovered on June 7 that their kids had been provided books containing information related to Jesus Christ and the Bible. They objected to this and informed Sangeeta Savaiya, the local panchayat’s deputy head about it after which the instance was reported to Chakradharpur Police Station. The four accused were taken into custody by Sub-Inspector Vivek Pal after he arrived in the aforementioned area.

Source: OpIndia