14 booked for forcing Hindus to convert to Christianity in Pune

The video of the incident went viral over social media platforms in which one of the women could be seen praising the religion of Christianity.

Pune, Jan 17: Police have registered a case against 14 persons, including a minor boy on charges of causing religious hatred and hurting Hindu sentiments by allegedly offering financial help to people in an attempt to convert them to Christianity in Pune.

The accused have been identified as Pradip Waghmare, Prashant Waghmare of Charholi, Ronak Shinde, Ashok Pandhare, Tejas Chandne, Mukesh Vishwakarma, Lakshman Naidu, M B Yun, J Yun, and Ishal Salve. A 17-year-old minor boy has also been named in the FIR.

According to the FIR copy attained by OpIndia, the complaint Salunkhe, a resident of the Markal region in Khed alleged that his family is being harassed by the accused persons to convert their religion to Christianity.

"On January 15, two persons Pradip Waghmare and Prashant Waghmare reached out to me and asked me if I knew anything about Christianity and asked me to read Bible and convert my religion to Christianity for a better life," the compainant said.

"Later, they noticed goddess images at my home and said that reading Hindu scriptures were of no use and that worshipping Hindu Gods would never do any good to us. Instead, they advised that I should go to Church and worship Jesus," Salunkhe complained.

Accused called Hindu Gods 'beggars'

The complainant her mentioned that the duo also called the Hindu Gods and called them 'beggars'. "They saw Vasudev avatar on the street in the morning and said how will your God protect you when he is begging for food. I could not tolerate the insult and hence informed the police," the complaint read.

Notably, police arrested three Christian persons while attempting to forcefully convert people from the Matang community to Christianity from the Alandi region of Pune. They were caught red handed while the accused persons began informing the Hindu persons about Christianity and forced them to convert their religion to Christianity.