A church and another building were demolished by district authorities in Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur district citing illegal construction on forest land.
The demolition was carried out in the presence of police. According to reports, the church and the building were allegedly constructed by two men, Vinod Kumar and Ramakant in the forest area of Ahirura. The men reportedly conducted religious conversions among the tribal population.
Police, who received several complaints of the alleged religious conversions, conducted an investigation and discovered the buildings were illegal.
The case soon went up to the district magistrate, who notified Vinod Kumar and Ramakant to appear before the court. However, none of the men turned up.
This was followed by the demolition in the presence of heavy police deployment.
Speaking to the media, Mirzapur superintendent of police Abhinandan said, “The church was constructed on forest department land illegally. We also received continuous complaints about conversion activities there. This action was taken based on those complaints, and any future complaints will be investigated and acted upon accordingly.”
