9 booked for over 400 forced religious conversions in UP's Meerut

Meerut, Uttar Pradesh: As many as nine people have been booked in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut for allegedly forcing 400 people to convert to Christianity. The victims -mostly push-cart vendors who live in local slums approached the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and complained that they were lured to convert to Christianity. The incident happened in Malin village in Mangat Puram.

The accused encouraged church visits and forced the victims to destroy idols of Hindu Gods, the police complaint filed by one of the victims says.

During the Covid lockdown, slum dwellers could not step out and struggled to manage their households. The better-off, who lived in buildings in the area, offered food and money for household expenses to them, the complainant told the police.

However, the people who had helped started telling them that there is only one God -- Jesus Christ -- and asked them to visit the church and pray to him, the First Information Report states, adding that the complainants were asked to stop worshipping Hindu Gods and only pray to Christ.

"They also forced us to change our names on our Aadhaar cards. When we were celebrating Diwali, these people entered our houses and tore pictures of Hindu Gods and said we should pray to Christ now that we have converted," the complainant alleged, adding that the alleged intruders started demanding ₹ 2 lakh each when they protested.

They brought knives and rods, and threatened to kill us if we approached the authorities, the complaint further says.

Claiming that they have been fraudulently converted to Christianity, the complaint stresses that all are "Sanatan Dharmi (Hindus)" and urged the police to take appropriate legal action.