Lucknow: Kushinagar police on Wednesday arrested five persons for allegedly persuading people to embrace Christianity.
According to police, the accused, Ramchandra Sahni, had organised a prayer meeting at his house in Chandrashekhar Azad Nagar where his associates Kimmu, Sikandar Kumar, Harendra Prasad and Guddi tried to persuade local residents to convert to Christianity.
“Omkar Sharma of Kaptanganj informed on UP 112 helpline that Sahni had organized a prayer meeting at his residence on Tuesday evening. Over a dozen villagers were present in the house where they were being offered money for conversion. They were also given booklets and pamphlets,” station house officer (SHO), Kaptanganj, Vinay Kumar Singh said.
He said an FIR was lodged against the accused under relevant sections of the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act and they were arrested.
“We received complaints that in the past too, the five accused had allegedly forced other villagers to convert,” the SHO said.
In the last eight months, at least 91 people have been arrested on charges of conversion attempts. Of these, 35 arrests have been made from Bahraich alone.
