Last month, the Assam Police detained and deported 10 foreign nationals.
On October 26, the police held three Swedish nationals in Namrup, a town with a number of tea gardens in Upper Assam’s Dibrugarh district. The police claimed they had violated their visa norms by addressing a religious meeting. Special Director General of Police (Law and Order) GP Singh also said the police heard “Christian missionaries were sending people to tea gardens and tribal areas” so they “alerted intelligence” and detained the Swedish visitors.
Then on October 28, the Assam Police detained seven Germans for “indulging in missionary activities in violation of visa norms”. Singh said the Germans did not have the M1 or missionary visa that permits religious activities. All 10 foreign visitors were fined 500 dollars before being deported.
While the official charges involved visa violations, the police are also investigating whether they intended to convert people to Christianity.
The police also arrested two people for inviting the Germans to religious events in Assam– 35- year-old Mukut Bodra, an Adivasi tourist guide from Jharkhand, and 55-year-old Bornabas Terang, a church leader, from the Dolamara area of Karbi Anglong district. According to the police officials, they aimed to conduct “mass conversions” in the state.
They have been charged under several sections of…
