A Christian priest and his two women associates were arrested by police today after a man accused them of "forcibly converting" him and two others by offering them job and money.
"We have arrested them under section 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of IPC and (section) 3/4 of Religious Conversion Act," said Kotar police station In-charge, Mahendra Jagat.
The trio was produced before a local court which sent them to judicial custody after rejecting their bail applications.
They have been identified as A B Anthony, the priest attached to Aber Church under Kotar police station area, and his women assistants P Anthony and Prabha Anthony.
The complainant, Prashant Gupta stated the trio had invited him and his two associates-- Rambhan Adivasi and Hemraj Verma--to Aber Church where he was offered job and money.
"I was in touch with the priest A B Anthony for quite some time and he had offered me and my two friends job at the church and money. Later, he forced me to embrace Christianity," Gupta alleged.
Gupta said he got angry as the priest started "abusing" the country.
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Backward Class Commission member, Laxmi Yadav said, "Such incidents are on the rise in the region and police should take tough stand in such issues".
Recently, police and Bajrang Dal activists had entered a church in Kogavan area here and stopped the wedding of a minor girl and a boy who had allegedly converted to Christianity four years ago.
Police had said that the couple did not inform them about their conversion which is mandatory under law.
