200 booked after mob attacks prayer house in Roorkee

According to the complaint, the incident took place around 10 am in Roorkee’s Solanipuram Colony, when a mob barged into the prayer hall, raising slogans against church missionaries. The mob vandalised the prayer house and also manhandled some of the devotees, it added.

The Uttarakhand Police have booked 200 people in connection with the vandalisation of a Christian prayer house in Roorkee during the Sunday Mass, allegedly by members of a right wing group. Police said the right-wing group accused the Christian missionaries of running an alleged conversion racket.

Station house officer Civil Lines Amarchand Sharma said police personnel have been deployed in Roorkee’s Solanipuram Colony to avoid any untoward incident.

According to the complaint, the incident took place around 10 am in Roorkee’s Solanipuram Colony, when a mob barged into the prayer hall, raising slogans against church missionaries. The mob vandalised the prayer house and also manhandled some of the devotees, it added.

“Following the preliminary investigation, a case has been filed against 200 people. An inspector rank has been directed to the matter,” said Circle officer Roorkee Vivek Kumar.

The accused have been booked under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including for rioting, theft, trespassing and voluntarily causing hurt.

N Wilson, who is associated with the Christian prayer house, denied allegations of religious conversion.

Station house officer Civil Lines Amarchand Sharma said police personnel have been deployed in the area to avoid any untoward incident.

Reacting to the incident, BJP state president Madan Kaushik said religious conversion won’t be allowed in any way in the state and accused the prayer house of conducting “suspicious gatherings“.

Congress state vice president Dhirendra Pratap, however, condemned the “hooliganism and targeting of Christians”. He further accused the BJP of “fuelling communal tension” ahead of Assembly elections in the state.