Administration demolishes unauthorised church built on the forest land

• Incident at Mirzapur (Uttar Pradesh)

• Conversion was being carried out by showing lure to the tribal people through the church

Mirzapur (Uttar Pradesh) – A church and another building were demolished by district authorities in Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur district citing illegal construction on forest land. The demolition was carried out in the presence of the police. According to reports, the church and the building were constructed by two men, Vinod Kumar and Ramakant in the forest area of Ahirura. The men reportedly conducted religious conversions among the tribal population. Police, who received several complaints of the religious conversions, conducted an investigation and discovered the buildings were illegal. The case soon went up to the district magistrate, who notified Vinod Kumar and Ramakant to appear before the court. However, none of the men turned up.

This was followed by the demolition in the presence of heavy police deployment.

This church was built in the Chunar forest area here. Locals say that this 8-year-old construction was done on forest department land. It is said that the tribals living in the forest far away from the city are being lured to convert through this church.

Editorial Perspective

While unauthorised church was being built on forest department land, did the forest officials not receive information about it, or did they ignore it due to financial collusion ? This too should be investigated !