Five members of Mizoram Missionary Society
arrested last week from Khargone, Madhya Pradesh, for allegedly offering money
to a labourer to embrace Christianity have been released on bail and escorted
to safety. The missionary workers were released Tuesday night after being taken
into custody on September 12. The society has been working in the state for 27
years.
The missionary society has dismissed the
charge that its members were offering Rs 1 lakh to the labourer to convert to
Christianity, claiming the missionaries get a monthly stipend of only Rs 6,500
and that they cannot afford to offer such a large sum of money.
Seven people, including two women, from
Mizoram had been held under the MP Freedom of Religion Act on September 12 for
allegedly offering money to Sunil Prajapati to embrace Christianity in Badwah
of Khargone district. While Badwah police claimed that Sunil was the
complainant, others said local VHP and Bajrang Dal activists had taken up the
matter with police.
The women were released on the same day,
but five male members were taken into custody. They have been identified as
Vanlalsawma (45), K Lalropluanga (35), Thangsangliana (22), R Laldinfela (21)
and Zonunmawia (20).
Lalropluanga told The Indian Express over
phone that there was no complainant and that police had reached the spot after
being called by local Bajrang Dal workers. The society members were on way to
hold a prayer meeting in the house of a villager, but even before they entered
the house they were stopped by some people and handed over to police,
Lalropluanga said.
In-charge of Badwah Police Station V S
Parihar said the five Mizo missionaries were “only involved in evangelism” and
that they had been active in Khandwa for a long time.
Nine years ago, three other Christian
missionaries from Mizoram had been booked in a similar case in Betul district,
but were acquitted seven years later. While defining its work as “direct
evangelism”, or going door-to-door and talking about Christianity, the
Aizawl-based society said its “core” work involves running Ebenezer English
Medium School in MP’s Burhanpur district. It currently has 262 students and 17
teachers, most of them Korku and Rathia tribals as well as Dalits.
“BJP MPs, MLAs and sarpanches have always
been supportive,” the society added. However, it described Khargone as a
relatively “hostile” area where Catholics have borne the brunt of attacks.
With ENS, Bhopal
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