Dev Ankur Wadhawan | Written by Christopher Gonsalves
Pratapgarh, December 21, 2017 | UPDATED 01:31 IST
Two Christian missionaries were arrested. Organisers claimed they had received permission from the District Collector to conduct the event.
Amidst the chaos, some of the missionaries managed to flee. (Photo courtesy: ANI and Dev Ankur Wadhawan)Police arrested two Christian missionaries in Rajasthan's Pratapgarh after locals alleged that people were forcibly being converted at a pre-Christmas event.
The event was held by several Christian missionaries on Tuesday night and tribal people from nearby places were asked to visit. They were told that they could seek a cure for their ailments at the function.
Protests in Rajasthan's Pratapgarh during a #Christmas event, protesters alleged religious conversion was being done during the event. Two people arrested on charges of forceful conversion pic.twitter.com/AQjyKmjAQ1
- ANI (@ANI) December 20, 2017
At the venue, some religious functions were conducted apart from Christmas celebrations. After locals got wind of this, they gathered at the venue and disrupted the event.
They alleged that the missionaries were indulging in religious conversion. Amidst the chaos, some of the missionaries managed to flee.
The missionaries said they had received prior permission from the District Collector to hold the event at the Community centre in Pratapgarh.
Other media reports claimed that the programme was disrupted by Hindu activists who tried to prove to policemen that the event was indeed one of religious conversion since the organisers had hymn books with them.
The incident comes close on the heels of two Christian events that were disrupted by right-wing groups.
On December 14, a Christian prayer meeting was disrupted in Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district following complaints received of religious conversion.
On December 19, the Hindu Jagran Manch asked schools in Aligarh not to celebrate Christmas as it was a ploy to lure and convert children to Christianity.