A mob protesting alleged religious conversion of tribal people in insurgency-hit Narayanpur district on Monday stormed into a church, ransacked it and also let several on-duty police personnel, including the Superintendent of Police (SP), injured.

According to the information received here, Sarva Adivasi Samaj (SAS) has called for ‘bandh’ and demonstration to protest against alleged religious conversion of tribal people in Narayanpur district and alleged attack on the members of samaj on January 1 by people who changed their religious faith. On Sunday, people who changed their religion in large numbers came out on motorcycles and allegedly attacked people associated with SAS. Several people reportedly suffered injuries in the alleged attack that took place on the New Year. In the backdrop of Sunday’s incident, a strong repercussion was anticipated from SAS following which police as well as local administration put in place preventive measures to deal with any untoward incident.

To raise their protest over the alleged incident, SAS called for a daylong bandh as well as a meeting. Eventually, a mob stormed into the church and vandalised it, informed police sources and further added that to avert any untoward incident and restore the law and order, a police team led by Superintendent of Police Sadanand Kumar rushed to the

spot and attempted to pacify the matter. While trying to pacify the matter, the SP suffered a head injury due to a stone hurled at him by agitators, the sources added. After the prolonged and hectic efforts, local administration and police managed to bring the situation under control, said the sources. “Today adivasi samaj called a meeting and the leaders of the community were asked by the District Collector and me to hold the meeting peacefully. Meanwhile, we received an input that a group of unguided people were heading to attack a church. Following this information I rushed to the spot along with police force,” said SP Sadanand. At the spot, I persuaded them not to take law in hand and they also expressed to follow the instructions but in the meantime, someone attacked me, he added. By acting sensibly, the district administration and police managed to restore the law and order, said the officer, adding that further action will be taken according to the law. “Suddenly, people turned furious and SP as well as few police personnel suffered injuries in the incident. The condition of SP is stable,” said Narayanpur Collector Ajeet Vasant. On being asked about any prior information related to the agitation, the Collector said we have learnt about the meeting to be held following which we interacted with the community leaders and asked them to chair it peacefully. It pains me to inform you that the law and order situation in Narayanpur (Diocese of Jagdalpur) has become very bad as Christians are being targeted and attacked, alleged Victor Henry Thakur, Archbishop of Raipur. He further alleged that a crowd of over 1000 people came to the Narayanpur Catholic Church on Monday and have destroyed the Church and presbytery. They are going to attack our other institutions, Bishop Joseph Kollamparambil informed me. We are trying to contact the Chief Minister about it, said Thakur, exhorting people to pray for their safety, protection and peace.