Thaindian News

Bhubaneswar, March 29 (IANS) At least 14 people, including nine women, were arrested in Orissa Tuesday on charges of flouting the rules while converting their religion, police said.

While a Hindu leader welcomed the developement, a Christian group condemned the arrest and demanded a probe, saying that lower level police officers were involved in the intimidation of Christians in the region.

The arrests were made from six villages in Mayurbhanj district for violating Orissa Freedom of Religion Act (OFRA), police officer S.K. Das told IANS.

The arrests came four days after Das registered a case against them March 25 at Rasgovindpur police station, some 360 km from here. The arrested were presented in the local court, he said.

“We arrested them after we found that they did not follow the procedures under the OFRA,” he said.

The 14 people converted to Christianity recently without following the rules, the officer said.

While a Hindu leader welcomed the arrest and said police needed to do more to check illegal conversion, a Christian leader blamed police for framing tribals.

“It is a welcome step. However, police should be more vigilant and should do more to check illegal conversion,” Bajrang Dal national convenor Subhash Chouhan told IANS.

The Bangalore-based Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) condemned the arrest and asked Orissa Chief minister Naveen Patnaik to order a probe into the incident.

GCIC president Sajan K. George said police deliberately harassed the people and arrested them without any offence. “The GCIC urged the chief minister to initiate a probe and drop the cases against the tribals,” he told IANS.

The tribal majority in Mayurbhanj and its neighbouring Keonjhar districts have seen controversies over alleged illegal conversion and re-conversion.

Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two children, Philip and Timothy, were burnt to death Jan 22, 1999 by a group of Hindu fanatics in Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district.

The apex court in January upheld life term awarded by a lower court to Staines’ killer Dara Singh who had launched a campaign in the region before his arrest in 2000 against alleged conversion of poor tribal by missionaries.