By Matters India Reporter
Damoh, Nov 21, 2022: Police in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh have initiated a preliminary probe into a woman’s allegation that she was paid to convert Christianity.
The move came on an order from the National Commission for Women (NCW), a federal statutory body empowered to protect the rights of women in India.
The NCW order came after a video footage of the woman went viral on November 18 in which she accused a couple Christian men of offering her money to convert.
The woman, believed to be a resident of Damoh district in Madhya Pradesh, said she became Christian after 120,000 rupees was paid to her. She took the money as she was in need of it.
The men, according to her dipped her in a water tank and told her that she had become a Christian. But their relationship strained after she stopped going to church. The men, she added, demanded the money back four times. She claimed to have returned 90,000 rupees and promised to pay the rest but they were not ready to listen.
The woman whose identity is not revealed also said in the video footage that at least five others were also converted to Christianity in the same spot, but failed to mention when that had happened.
NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma took cognizance of the video footage and demanded action against the culprits.
Sharma in her official tweet said her commission has taken cognizance of the video footage. The commission, she added, had “written to director general of police, the top police official, Madhya Pradesh to immediately file the First Information Report (FIR) and arrest all the accused if the allegations are found to be true.
“NCW has also written to the district collector, top government official Damoh, seeking strict action She also wrote the alleged conversion is “not acceptable at all.”
Superintendent of Police Damoh district D R Tenivaar told media November 21 that his department has started a preliminary probe into the allegation and action will be taken based on its finding.
Earlier on November 13, the Damoh police initiated a probe against 10 Christians for alleged charges of religious conversion.
The probe began following a complaint from Priyank Kanoongo, chairman of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) after an inspection at an orphanage for children on the same day.
The orphanage is managed by a Protestant group. An official of the orphanage denied the allegation saying, “We are being targeted for no reason” and expressed the hope that they will get justice from the court.
Christians in Madhya Pradesh have been accusing right wing Hindu groups of targeting them on the plea of alleged religious conversion.
“Why should we convert anyone paying money?” asked a Christian leader who do not want to be named.
“If we really indulged in religious conversion as being accused our population could not have been less than 1 percent of the state’s more than 71 million people,” he explained.
A Church official, who preferred to be anonymous, told Matters India, “We don’t believe in forceful conversion.” He then appealed those targeting Christians “to stop our persecution.”