Bhopal: Back-to-back incidents involving right-wing groups entering church premises in Madhya Pradesh have triggered violence and political controversy in Jabalpur days ahead of Christmas, with police launching inquiries into allegations of forced religious conversion that church members and visually impaired students have denied.
The most recent episode unfolded on Monday at a church located behind Hawabagh Women’s College, where members of several right-wing organisations, accompanied by BJP district vice president Anju Bhargava, entered the premises alleging that visually impaired students were being coerced into converting. The situation escalated after a video surfaced online showing Bhargava in a physical altercation with a visually impaired woman inside the church, sparking widespread outrage. Footage circulating on social media shows Bhargava confronting the woman, who was seated inside the church. At one point, Bhargava is seen holding the woman’s face during a heated exchange. The woman reacts by grabbing and twisting Bhargava’s arm, repeatedly asking her not to touch her and to speak without physical contact. Others present attempt to intervene as tempers rise, before police arrive and bring the situation under control.
Police officials said the gathering involved visually impaired students who had been invited for a meal as part of Christmas-related charitable outreach by members of the Christian community. According to officers, the students had been brought from a government-run hostel for lunch and prayers and told investigators there was no attempt to convert them. “At this stage, there is no evidence of forced conversion. Statements of the students are being recorded,” a senior police officer said, adding that the children were safely returned after the commotion. Right-wing organisations have since filed a complaint questioning how students from a government hostel were taken to a religious site without prior intimation to authorities. They have also claimed that prayers conducted at the venue were exclusively Christian and alleged that non-vegetarian food was served.
Defending her actions, Bhargava said that she went to the spot after local activists informed her that visually impaired women were being held against their will in a dilapidated structure near the church. She claimed some women wanted to leave and alleged irregularities in how the programme was organised. Bhargava also said she was assaulted during the confrontation but chose not to file a complaint because the woman involved was blind.
The Jabalpur incident followed another flare-up on Sunday morning at a church in the Madhotal area. Around 11 am, members of a right-wing organisation entered a prayer service near Shiv Shakti Nagar, leading to chaos, physical clashes and multiple detentions. Members of the Hindu Seva Parishad said they had approached the church after receiving information about an unusually large gathering that included people from outside districts. Worshippers, however, alleged that 15 to 20 young men forced their way in during prayers, shouting slogans and creating panic inside the place of worship.