MP: Mob vandalises St. Joseph school in Vidisha claiming religious conversions of students

In a shocking incident, a mob of Hindu organisation supporters stormed into St Joseph School in Ganj Basoda in Madhya Pradesh's Vidisha on Monday alleging religious conversion of students in the school. Visuals from the area show a mob of men pelting stones on the glass face of the school, raising slogans. Students were appearing for their class 12th CBSE board exam in the school when the incident occurred.

MP: Hindu mob vandalises school over alleged conversions

"Letter circulated in the name of our school that 8 Hindu students have been converted to Christianity. They're not our students. The letter is dated Oct 31, Sunday when no teacher/student comes. I had informed Police y'day, still, only 2 cops were here," said Brother Antony, school manager.

Expressing helplessness to stop the mob, police SDM said, "We had made adequate Police arrangements, had tried to stop them. A memorandum has been received," adding "Police personnel present here. All children are safe. Nuns are also here, they're safe too. TI and Asst TI are present here".

In October, similar mob vandalism occured over alleged religious conversion occured at a mosque in Madhya Pradesh's Neemuch district. The mosque was damaged using explosives and its priest and a devotee were thrashed with sticks allegedly by two dozen masked people at Jawad tehsil. The attackers left behind a pamphlet claiming the shrine was involved in converting Hindus to Islam.

The injured devotee, identified as Abdul Rajjak, has been admitted to a hospital while the priest Noor Baba sustained minor injuries, Superintendent of Police Suraj Kumar Verma said. Noor Baba has lodged a complaint with the police following which an FIR was registered against 24 unidentified people on the charges of rioting, damaging the place of worship etc., under the Indian Penal Code, he told PTI over the phone. The attack lasted for four hours from around 11 PM on Saturday to 3 AM, police said.

The 'Love-Jihad Law' in MP

Madhya Pradesh govt has promulgated the 'MP Freedom to Religion Bill' ordinance to prevent conversion by marriage and religious conversion by financial 'allurement', fraudulent, and forceful means. The Madhya Pradesh Law, in lines of UP's 'Love Jihad law', too penalises forced conversion with imprisonment of 1-5 years with Rs.15,000 penalty. It too has a special clause for minors, Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe with imprisonment between 3-10 years and the penalty upto Rs.25,000. Moreover, if a person wants to convert to another religion, he/she has to submit a letter of declaration to the District Magistrate one month in advance.