Priest among 10 arrested for‘conversion’ bid at UP church
A police team raided the conference hall of the church and found that around 200 people, mostly from Scheduled Caste communities had gathered on the call of the priest
Ten people, including a church priest, have been arrested for allegedly attempting to convert a large group of Hindus to Christianity through allurement in Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh, police said on Tuesday, adding a case has been registered under the state’s anti-conversion law.

According to the police, they foiled the mass conversion bid at Saint Mathews Methodist Church at Deva area of Barabanki on Monday evening and arrested the 10 accused from the spot.
A police team, along with sub-divisional magistrate Vijay Kumar Trivedi raided the conference hall of the church and found that around 200 people, mostly from Scheduled Caste communities had gathered on the call of the priest, said Barabanki (city) circle officer Beenu Singh.
“These people were brought here from Ayodhya on the pretext of treatment of their ailment through religious activity and were lured with jobs. The priest, with the help of others, was trying to convert them into Christianity by making them worship in the church,” Singh said.
Most of the people were illiterate and could not understand the intention behind the gathering at the church, the officer said. “The priest was trying to convert them by making false claims about treating them through religious activity,” she added.
Besides the church priest, Father Dominic, others arrested from the spot were identified as Sarju Prasad Gautam, Pawan Kumar, Sunil Pasi, Ghanshyam Gautam, Surendra Paswan, Rahul Paswan, Ramcharan Rawat, Dharmendra Kori and Suraj Gautam, police said.
On Tuesday, the accused were produced before the court, which sent them to judicial custody, the officer said.
A first information report (FIR) has been registered against 15 identified and some unidentified people at the Deva police station based on a complaint lodged by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) district president Brijesh Kumar Vaish and Bajrang Dal district convener Akhand Pratap Singh, the CO said.
The accused have been booked under section 3 and 5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Unlawful Religious Conversion Prohibition Act, 2021, popularly known as the anti-conversion law.
Section 3 states that no person shall convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any other person from one religion to another by use or practice of misrepresentation, undue influence, allurement or by any fraudulent means. Section 5(1) states that those who desire to convert to other religion, shall give a declaration about the same at least 60 days in advance to the district magistrate or the ADM.
The circle officer further said that besides the 10 arrested accused, others named in the FIR included two Lucknow residents — Suzzane Daniel and DJ Joesph — who were the main speakers at the gathering, but escaped before the police team reached the church. Three others — Aahuti, Sangeeta Gautam and Sona Rawat — were involved in arranging the gathering. “Attempts are being made to arrest the remaining accused. Further investigation is underway,” she added.
