5 right-wing members detained for vandalising missionary school in MP

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh police on Tuesday arrested five persons reportedly involved in vandalising a Christian school in Madhya Pradesh's Vidisha district, alleging that eight students were forcefully converted to Christianity.

As per a report by the Hindustan Times, the police have registered a case of rioting and vandalism against the members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, said Sub-Divisional Officer of Police Bharat Bhushan Sharma.

According to media reports on Monday, Bajrang Dal workers along with hundreds of locals barged into the St. Joseph school in Ganj Basoda town, nearly 100 km from the state capital Bhopal.

The violence by the right wing mob and local residents inside the school premises happened while the Class XII students were appearing for the Mathematics examination inside the examination hall.

Alleging that the eight Hindu students of the school were converted to Christianity on October 30, the mob pelted stones and created ruckus.

Although, the violence created a panic situation among the students, however, none were reported to be injured.

The manager of the school, Brother Antony, has claimed that he received the information of the attack a day earlier through local media, after which he alerted the police and the state administration. He accused the police of not making proper security arrangements

Meanwhile, Nilesh Agrawal, the leader of the local Bajrang Dal unit, demanded a thorough probe into the alleged religious conversion. He also added that if the allegations were true and if the school's involvement is found, it should be bulldozed.

Security arrangements were made at other missionary schools in the area after the incident.

Earlier, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights had issued a notice to Vidisha District Collector, seeking a probe into the allegations.