Karnataka: Six Jehovah’s Witnesses arrested on charges of forced conversions
October 17, 2016 by admin
Filed under newsletter-india
Karnataka, October 17, 2016: Six Jehovah’s Witnesses were arrested yesterday in Karnataka on charges of forced conversions.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses “were stopped as they handed out religious tracts house to house,” noting that “the distribution of Christian religious material is neither illegal nor criminal.”
The incident occurred in Manikallu, Udupi district, scene in recent years of several attacks by Hindu radicals against Christians.
Members of two nationalist groups, the Bhramari Yuvaka Mandal and Hindu Jagran Vedike, alerted police in Kota of the presence of Jehovah’s Witnesses, saying they were converting people by force.
The police rushed to the village and took six Witnesses into custody, on charges of religious propaganda. Leaflets inciting people to convert were found inside a car.
India is a secular nation and Article 25 of the Constitution guarantees the free profession, practice and propagation of religion.
– asianews
The Jehovah’s Witnesses are a strictly law abiding community, governed by moral laws.
Moral laws are superior to manmade laws which can be ‘stretched’to accommodate populist sentiment.