A suspected conversion bid by Christian foreigners was foiled in rural parts of the Solapur district of Maharashtra on 19th September 2022. An FIR was registered against nine accused in the Natepute police station under section 295A of the Indian Penal Code, after two locals Devanand Kokate and Subhash Khilare filed a complaint.
3 US citizens Daniel Jordan, Steven Ray, Nathan Tucker caught n detained by Police @SpSolapurRural while propagating Christianity. It is Visa rule violation n We urge @HMOIndia @MEAIndia @DGPMaharashtra to impound their passports, prosecute them, expel all immediately @USAmbIndia pic.twitter.com/ciVnk9ypa0
— Legal Rights Observatory- LRO (@LegalLro) September 30, 2022
In the complaint, Devanand Kokate and Subhash Khilare mentioned that on 19th September 2022, three unknown foreigners, Suhas Bawdekar and Shamrao alias Samson Kshirsagar (both residents of Solapur), and three unknown persons from Solapur gathered at Mahadev Landge’s house in the Mandve village in the Malshiras taluka of the Solapur district with the attempt of enticing and beguiling unsuspecting villagers into embracing Christianity.
It is further said in the FIR, “Mahadev Landge had invited more than 100 Hindus belonging to the Matang caste and started the meeting. The foreigners were saying something. The people from Solapur were translating those things into Marathi so that the listeners understand them. They said that Jesus is the best and the Christian religion is the best of all religions and Hinduism is a bad religion. Hinduism is regressive while Jesus and Christianity are advanced. If you embrace Christianity, you will attain salvation. Surrender yourself to Jesus. He will relieve you from your ailments. He will finish off your poverty. And we pray to Jesus for that.”
“Showing such baits, they tried to take disadvantage of the ignorance of the common Hindus and attempted to inculcate superstitions in their minds. In this way, they asked people to leave Hinduism and convert to Christianity. While appealing to people to do so, they insulted Hinduism and various Hindu faiths.” It is notable that the Matang caste is one of the scheduled castes in Maharashtra,” the complaint read.
The three foreigners are US citizens. They are identified as Nathan Tucker (age 25, resident of Oklahoma, USA), Steven Ray (age 58, resident of California, USA), and Daniel Jordan (age 39, resident of Arkansas, USA). All three were detained by the police and released after a few hours. The police are further investigating the case. It is also being checked if any Visa rules are violated by these foreigners.
Devanand Kokate and Subhash Khilare are social workers in this area. They took an initiative to inform the local police as they saw suspicious Christian foreigners preaching Christianity to ignorant local Hindus. Kokate and Khilare have also submitted a memorandum to the superintendent of police of the Solapur district to look into this matter and take strict action against the accused.
