Uttar Pradesh police arrested a pastor for forcibly converting Hindus through money and other allurements. He had issued new Aadhaar cards with new names to the converted. The pastor was arrested a few months ago but went absconding after securing bail.
Vijay Masih, a pastor who converted Hindus in groups in a village near Fatehpur has been arrested. He was arrested after the police received a tip off about a secretive mass conversion drive in a church in Hariharganj. Media reports say that on October 30 pastor Masih was giving religious lessons on Christianity in the Hariganj church. Reportedly he brought Hindus to the church on the pretext of praying.
He tried to convert them forcibly and police stopped the event after getting information about it. Police recovered many Aadhar cards from his premises. Upon investigating the pastor, it was revealed that they were new Aadhaar cards with new names prepared for Hindus who converted to Christianity.
Pastor Vijay Masih was booked in another case of mass conversion a few months ago. But he went into hiding and continued to convert more people. He was booked for luring economically backward Hindus by offering money and other allurements and forcing them to convert to Christianity. Police suspect that many more are involved in this conversion racket and are collecting more evidence to nab the other perpetrators.
“Masih was arrested in April for forcing a person to convert to Christanity but he got bail. During investigation, we found that he along with others were involved in forcing other persons to convert also. Other relevant sections of IPC were added to the case. Monday’s arrest was made in connection with the new sections”, police told media.
In April 2022, a similar mass conversion drive was exposed by Hindu outfits. They picketted the Evangelical Church of India(ECI) building in Fatehpur where more than 50 Hindus were rounded to to be converted through force and allurements. After Hindu outfits filed a complaint, 26 people including Vijay Kumar Samson, Reshma Samson, Ratna Daud, Sharon, Jyoti Monalisa, Geeta Masih and a few more were arrested. Pastor Vijay Masih was also arrested.
But they secured bail and continued to conduct mass conversion sessions in secret by luring Hindus in the name of healing prayers. Pastor Vijay Masih has now been arrested and another complaint about the recent mass conversion even has also been filed.
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