Mussoorie Church Pastor, wife booked for ‘forced’ conversions in Uttarakhand village

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Uttarkashi,
Dec
29:
The
pastor
of
a
church
in
Mussoorie,
his
wife
and
four
other
people
have
been
booked
in
connection
with
alleged
unlawful
conversions
in
a
village
in
the
Purola
area
in
Uttarkashi,
police
said
on
Wednesday.

On
Friday,
people
of
the
village
had
clashed
with
organisers
of
an
event
attended
by
Christian
clerics
at
Devdhung
in
Uttarkashi
district,
accusing
them
of
unlawful
conversion.
Right-wing
Hindu
outfits
held
a
demonstration
at
the
SDM’s
office,
alleging
that
Christian
missionaries
were
converting
people
from
Nepal
coming
to
Uttarkashi
for
work
by
offering
them
allurements,
as
reported
by
PTI.

The
incident
occurred
two
days
prior
to
Christmas
at
Hope
and
Life
Centre
in
the
village,
which
is
around
150
km
from
state
capital
Dehradun.
The
pastor
belongs
to
Union
Church,
Mussoorie,
and
was
leading
prayers
when
the
mob
barged
in
and
disrupted
the
celebrations,
NDTV
reported.

3
arrested
for
trying
to
lure
Hindus
into
conversion
in
Karnataka

Cases
were
registered
at
the
Purola
police
station
against
people
associated
with
the
missionary
organisation
called
‘Asha
Aur
Jivan
Kendra’ as
well
as
five
villagers,
Purola
Station
House
Officer
(SHO)
Komal
Singh
Rawat
had
said
earlier.

On
Wednesday,
Rawat
said,
“Pastor
of
Mussoorie’s
Union
Church
Lazarus
Cornelius,
his
wife
Pushpa
Cornelius
and
four
others
have
been
booked
in
connection
with
the
incident.”
The
pastor
had
gone
to
the
village
in
Purola
area
along
with
his
team
to
allegedly
convert
people,
he
said.

An
investigation
has
been
ordered
into
the
matter
on
a
priority
basis,
the
SHO
said.

Earlier,
a
woman
of
Nepalese
origin
who
is
a
key
witness
in
the
case,
had
told
police
in
a
statement
that
she
was
under
pressure
from
Christian
missionary
to
convert.
They
had
offered
to
pay
for
her
marriage
besides
giving
her
other
gifts
to
tempt
her
to
convert,
she
alleged.
She
had
come
under
their
pressure
and
accepted
the
invitation
to
the
programme
held
on
December
23,
she
said
in
her
statement.
They
wanted
to
convert
her,
she
added.
The
woman’s
statement
was
taken
by
the
police
at
her
home
and
may
be
recorded
before
the
magistrate
if
needed,
the
DSP
said.

Javed
Khan
marries
Hindu
girl;
9
others
booked
under
Haryana’s
anti-conversion
law

Dozens
of
Nepalese
families
have
been
working
in
the
apple
orchards
of
Dhadoli,
Sarla,
Chalni,
Karda
and
Chaptadi
areas
of
the
district
for
decades.