LUCKNOW: As many as 55 persons were booked under anti-conversion law in Fatehpur district of UP on Friday evening. Police said 26 of them have been arrested.
The arrests came after a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) office-bearer Himanshu Dixit informed police that around 90 Hindus were illegally converted to Christianity by the 'Evangelical Church of India' in the Hariharganj area of the district.
Superintendent of police, Fatehpur, Rajesh Singh, told TOI that based on Dixit's complaint, first an FIR was lodged at the Kotwali police station against 55 people, including 10 women, under various sections of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion act 2020.
"We have 35 named people as accused in the FIR who are said to be members of the Evangelical Church of India. Efforts are on to identify the remaining 20," he said, adding that the arrested ones are those named in the FIR.
"The FIR was lodged following a brawl at the church in the Hariharganj area on Thursday evening. A probe in the case is still underway," he added.
According to the FIR, a prayer had been called by people of the Christian community at the church. Some people from the VHP and Bajrang Dal reached there in the evening alleging that unlawful conversion of Hindus was being done, demanding an inquiry.
Senior officials of police and district administration reached the spot to pacify the protestors. An FIR was lodged after initial investigation about the religion conversion.
