Author:
Publication: The Utkal
Age
Date: June 19,2000
The Cuttack district
administration has started an inquiry into the reconversion at Keutibereni,
where five persons were reconverted from Christianity to Hinduism at Vanavasi
Kalyan Ashram, on Saturday. According to official sources, an official
of additional tehsildar rank along with police officials visited the ashram
and talked to those persons who were reconverted.
Officials of the district
administration said that the reconversion was carried out without the prior-knowledge
of the administration. However the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act says
that the district administration should be intimated beforehand about the
conversion through an affidavit.
On the contrary, the
Viswa Hindu Parishad has denied that nothing was wrong with the reconversion
and no law was violated. VHP spokesperson, Mr Arabinda Rout, told The Asian
Age that there was no need to intimate the district administration as the
five persons who were reconverted had been converted to Christianity in
1997 and at that time the district administration was not informed beforehand.
These five persons were
Hindus earlier and this is just the home-coming, Rout says. They opted
to come back to Hinduism on their own and they have not been forced, allured
or induced as per the OFRA regulations, he added.
