Hindu activists allege religious conversion attempts in Karnataka prison

Gadag (Karnataka) : Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal activists on Wednesday complained to the Superintendent of Police of Gadag district in Karnataka over distribution of copies of Bible to the prisoners in the jail and demanded immediate action and suspension against prison authorities.The Hindu activists demanded that the Christian missionaries should not be allowed inside the premises of the Gadag district jail and also other prisons in the state. The incident had come to light when one of the workers had gone to meet a prisoner. The activists have collected photos and copies of the distributed Bible.

According to the complaint, a team of seven member Christian evangelists had visited the Gadag District Prison on March 12.The team had visited to ‘conduct prayers and transform the mindset of prisoners’ and had distributed the copies of the New Testament of Bible.The activists alleged that the act was being done with an intention to carry out religious conversions. The Hindu activists also criticised the authorities for permitting them to distribute religious texts. The New Testament is a mini Bible, the Hindu activists alleged.However, the prison authorities maintained that the missionaries were allowed inside the jail to carry out programmes for the prisoners by the department.