Mussoorie Church Pastor, Wife Booked For Unlawful Conversions In A Village In Uttarakhand's Purola

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 Uttarakhand, 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.

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.

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

Reacting to the incident, state BJP president Mahendra Bhatt had said that the state government would take strict action against the accused in the alleged conversion case under the provisions of state's new anti-conversion law.

The Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami-led Uttarakhand government had passed the Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2022 in the state assembly on 30 November.

The bill made unlawful conversions a cognisable and non-bailable offence punishable with a prison term of up to 10 years.

The bill recently received the assent of state's Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Gurmit Singh, after which it became an act paving way for harsher punishment for illegal religious conversion activities in state.

Apart from a maximum imprisonment of up to ten years, persons indulging in forceful and unlawful conversion in Uttarakhand will now be slapped with a fine of at least Rs 50,000.

(With inputs from PTI)