On Monday, December 12, the Koppal police in Kartanaka arrested a pastor and his wife for allegedly forcing a Dalit family to convert to Christianity. The 17-year-old son of the pastor has also been booked for raping the minor daughter of the family under relevant sections of the POCSO Act.
The victim Dalit family, belonging to the Budgajangam community, has meanwhile reverted to Hinduism under the aegis of Marulasideshwara Swamiji and the Hindu outfit Hindu Jagarana Vedike.
A pastor, his wife and his son were booked for alleged forced #conversions of Dalits in #Karnataka‘s #Koppal. The pastor’s 17-year-old son was also separately booked for alleged sexual assault on a minor in the same community. #News9SouthDesk https://t.co/kvuweOnrVF
— Prajwal D’Souza (@prajwaldza) December 12, 2022
According to reports, the pastor and his wife were sent to judicial custody while their son has been sent to a remand home in Ballari.
Talking about the arrests, the Koppal police confirmed that the first case was registered against the accused pastor Satyanarayan alias Samuel and his wife for forceful conversion, while the second was registered against their minor son for allegedly raping a minor girl from the same family.
The pastor was arrested based on a complaint filed by Shankar, one of the victims whose family was converted by the pastor.
Shankar said in his complaint that pastor Satyanarayana alias Samuel, who runs Grace Prayer Centre in Karatagi, Koppal, had converted him by luring him with money. He accused the pastor of threatening them against praying to Hindu Gods or even keeping pictures of Hindu deities in their house.
“After I was baptised by the pastor, he asked us to follow the rituals of Christianity and warned us to not pray to Hindu deities. He also confiscated the photographs of Hindu deities from our home and threw them into a canal, where he later baptised other members of my family,” Shankar alleged in his complaint.
He also accused the pastor’s wife, Shivamma Sara, of taking his children and involving them in church activities.
Shankar further told the police that when he told the local authorities about the forced conversion, they were allegedly threatened and physically assaulted by the pastor.
The pastor warned the victim’s family that praying to Hindu gods would cause them to go to hell. The pastor terrorized Shankar further by warning that if he dared to return to Hinduism, he would kill Shankar and have his children raped.
While Shankar was contemplating filing a complaint against the pastor, the latter’s 17-year-old son raped his 15-year-old daughter on the pretext of marrying her. This finally prompted Shankar to approach the police on December 9 and file an official complaint against the pastor and his wife accusing them of forced conversions and one against the pastor’s son as well, accusing him of raping his minor daughter.
“As per the complaint, the pastor forced Shankar and his family to convert to Christianity four years ago. Then they were practising their new religion though they had not officially converted. Shankar was waiting to expose Samuel who allegedly used to target poor families and would lure them to convert. But in the meantime, Shankar’s minor daughter was raped by the pastor’s son, who is also a minor, and then Shankar lodged a complaint,” said a police officer who is privy to the case.
“We have questioned the complainant and his family members. We are also checking about the claims of forcible conversion in recent years in the Ramanagara area where the complainant and his family live,” the officer added.
