Non-Christians working in Christian institutions submit a memorandum to District Collector

On Tuesday, November 29, hundreds of people working in Christian institutions took out a rally at the offices of the collector and the Police superintendent of Damoh district of Madhya Pradesh.

The employees belonging to different religious traditions working in Christian institutions submitted a memorandum to the district administration demanding an impartial investigation into the action taken against the head of their institution.

Indian Express paper reported, quoting police sources, that ten members of a Christian organization in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh district were booked for alleged religious conversions, at an orphanage they ran.

An FIR was registered in the matter after Priyank Kanoongo, the chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), filed a written complaint following a surprise inspection that the majority Hindu and Muslim children of a hostel run by Mid India Christian Society are being taught teachings of Christianity.

An FIR as per Sections 42 and 75 of Juvenile Justice Act and 3 and 5 of MP Freedom of Religion Act, along with 370 of IPC was registered against the 10 members.

The employees of various major Christian institutions in Damoh submitted the memorandum stating that the allegation of conversion is baseless.

Menjar Singh, one of the staff members who participated in the rally said that people from other castes and religions have been working in Christian institutions for years. But he was never asked to convert to Christianity by the management, nor was he ever forced to attend any church rituals.

He wants a proper investigation into the actions that have been taken in the ongoing activities in the past because the allegation of conversion is baseless.

He said that hundreds of non-Christians work in these institutions which have been running for nearly 90 years and they have complete religious freedom, so they want that the action being taken should be properly investigated.

There are other similar instances of false allegations of forced conversion under the Freedom of religions act, which itself is questioned as biased against the minority religions.

Christian leaders in Madhya Pradesh say false charges were being cooked up against the minority community as part of a deliberate strategy to harass them.