2 held for Begumpur church chaos, threatening priest

The Delbhi Police on Thursday arrested two persons for allegedly barging into a church in  Outer Delhi’s Begumpur area, raising anti-religion slogans, disrupting prayers and threatening the priest of dire consequences if he carried out ‘conversion practices’. The incident took place on October 9.

Senior police officials said one of the accused, Yogesh Mathur, arrested in the morning, was sent to judicial custody; while the other, Deepak Sharma, has been detained for questioning.

According to the police, the duo barged into the Christ Building Church in the Jain Nagar area of Begumpur around 10 am on October 9 when the prayer service was underway.

Sources said over 50 people, who had gathered at the church for the Sunday mass services, saw the two men abusing the priest, Paul Daniel. The duo accused Daniel that conversions were taking place in the church under his authority. After creating a chaos, they fled from the spot, police said.

A police official, investigating the case, said the duo apart from using objectionable language against the priest threatened him of dire consequences, which might be even shutting down the church. Daniel filed an FIR against the accused after conducting a meeting with residents of the area.

The sources, meanwhile, said police were verifying the antecedents of the accused to establish if they belonged to a religious group. 

Sources said Yogesh (40) lived in North-west Delhi’s Karala village, while Deepak was a native of Uttar Pradesh.

A case has been registered under Sections 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 296 ( disturbing religious assembly) of the IPC at the Begumpur police station.

According to sources, the church became operational in 2014 and has been functioning from a rented building. 

There have been similar attacks on churches in the area in the past as well, residents alleged.