PIL in SC demands check on fraudulent conversion

New Delhi, February 1

Amid raging controversy over a minor girl’s suicide in Tamil Nadu due to alleged attempts to forcibly convert her to Christianity, a PIL in the Supreme Court has sought a direction to the Centre and states to curb fraudulent religious conversion carried out by threat, intimidation, deceit, and monetary allurements.

Seventeen-year-old Lavanya – a student of Class XII at Sacred Heart Higher Secondary School, Thirukattupalli, near Thanjavur — died by suicide on January 19 by consuming poison after allegedly being tortured to convert to Christianity by the school. The Madras High Court on Monday ordered a CBI probe into her death.

“Lavanya’s untimely demise is a wake-up call. It reminds people of evangelists’ imperialistic goals. Indeed, it reminds people of how an elaborate plan has been used to uproot Hinduism-Secularism. In fact, many more Lavanyas have been compelled to take such drastic measures as a result of such coercive-persuasive tactics,” petitioner Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, a Delhi BJP leader and advocate, submitted.

Describing the situation as alarming, Upadhyay accused the Centre and states of failing to control the menace of deceitful religious conversion.