Police in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh have initiated a preli-minary probe into a woman’s allegation that she was paid to convert Christianity.
The move came on an order from the National Commission for Women (NCW), a federal statutory body empowered to protect the rights of women in India.
The NCW order came after a video footage of the woman went viral on Nov. 18 in which she accused a couple Christian men of offering her money to convert.
The woman, believed to be a resident of Damoh district in Madhya Pradesh, said she became Christian after 120,000 rupees was paid to her. She took the money as she was in need of it. The men, according to her dipped her in a water tank and told her that she had become a Christian. But their relationship strained after she stopped going to church. The men, she added, demanded the money back four times. She claimed to have returned 90,000 rupees and promised to pay the rest but they were not ready to listen.
The woman whose identity is not revealed also said in the video footage that at least five others were also converted to Christianity in the same spot, but failed to mention when that had happened.
NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma took cognizance of the video footage and demanded action against the culprits.
Sharma in her official tweet said her commission has taken cognizance of the video footage. The commission, she added, had “written to director general of police, the top police official, Madhya Pradesh to immediately file the First Information Report (FIR) and arrest all the accused if the allegations are found to be true. “NCW has also written to the district collector, top government official Damoh, seeking strict action She also wrote the alleged conversion is “not acceptable at all.”