By Purushottam Nayak
Bamunigam, March 31, 2020: Police in Odisha have arrested a pastor and the secretary of a church for conducting prayers with people’s participation in violation of the countrywide lockdown norms to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
The incident occurred on March 27 in a Baptist church at Tajungia, a remote village in the Kandhamal district of the eastern Indian state.
Around 60 people attended the prayer service. However, they escaped from the church on hearing the police siren.
A police team reached the village after someone informed the Bamunigam police station.
The police team led by Ranjit Kumar Montry, Inspector In-Charge of the station, later arrested Pastor Dilip Kumar Malick and secretary Ajay Kumar Malick (no relation).
Krushna Prasad Patnaik, the Deputy Superintendent of Police of Kandhamal, told reporters that the two were arrested for violating government restrictions on people’s gathering at worship places as a way to prevent the spread of dangerous diseases.
The police accused the pastor and the secretary of conducting prayers in a way that was conducive for the transmission of coronavirus.
The two were later released on bail.
The 45-year-old pastor said he conducted the prayer because that “is our main instrument to combat the coronavirus. We have faith in Christ and word of God.”
The secretary, who is in his 40s, too said only Jesus Christ can save people from epidemics, calamities, dangers or even death.
Anjali Malick one of the participants, expressed sadness that she is not able to pray in the time of danger.
“The lockdown has become hindrance for us to call our God as a group,” the 37-year-old woman told Matters India.