A Catholic church in West Bengal’s Nadia district was allegedly vandalised on Friday evening after people gathered outside the premises claiming that religious conversions were taking place there, prompting a police investigation and a scuffle after Christian community leaders attempted to block the road.
The incident took place at St Louis Catholic Church in Jalalkhali, Krishnanagar, during a four-day prayer meeting programme for which the church said it had obtained police permission. A senior police official at the Krishnanagar police directorate confirmed that a complaint had been received and that an investigation was under way.
Father Vincent George of St Louis Catholic Church said a group gathered outside the church on Friday evening and used loudspeakers to allege that conversions were taking place. According to George, people pelted stones at around 6 pm, entered the church premises and damaged makeshift gates and the glass cover of statues.
The police arrived at the spot after Christian community leaders attempted to block the road in front of the church. The intervention brought the situation under control, while the confrontation between the community leaders and protesters led to a scuffle. A complaint was later lodged at Kotwali police station.
“We have stopped our programme,” George said, adding that the church did not want similar incidents to recur. The police have not publicly established the allegations of religious conversion cited by those who gathered outside the premises.
Herod Mullick, founder of the Bangiya Christiya Pariseba, said incidents involving prayer meetings and Christian congregations were occurring frequently in different parts of West Bengal. He called on the administration and local authorities to conduct an immediate and impartial investigation, maintain law and order, and take action against those responsible for the alleged vandalism.
The Indian Express has reported similar incidents in North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Purba Bardhaman and Purba Medinipur districts. The wider pattern remains a matter of competing claims: Christian representatives have described the incidents as attacks on congregations, while Vishwa Hindu Parishad secretary for North Kolkata, Arindam Kar, alleged that conversions involving money and claims of miracles were taking place in several districts. Those allegations were not independently established in the supplied report.
Kar also alleged that such groups had earlier received protection from the former ruling party, the Trinamool Congress, and said protests had increased after that protection was no longer available. The allegation is political and was not corroborated by the police statement cited in the report.
The immediate official process is the investigation into the complaint lodged at Kotwali police station. Authorities will have to establish the sequence of events, identify those responsible for any damage or violence, and determine whether the allegations surrounding the prayer meeting had any factual basis.
