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Within days after the Tamil Nadu assembly passed an anti-conversion, the same may be put to the test in this case which came up before the unsuspecting Madipakkam police in Kancheepuram district.
A Christian organisation and the Hindu Munnani have filed complaints with the police charging each other with forcing the 'conversion' of a 'born-again'.
The person at the centre of the controversy is Arochkiadas Dhanasekhar.
He is said to have become a Christian six years ago and is a member of the 'Thuthi Aikiya Thirusabhai' parish in Madipakkam.
Bishop Esra Sargunam, president of the Social Justice Movement of India, and an active campaigner against the anti-conversion law, said in a statement that the Hindu Munnani was pressurising Dhanasekhar and his family to 'convert' to Hinduism.
As a result of the row, the thatched hut of the church had been burnt down and the priest John Jebaraj been threatened, Sargunam alleged in his statement.
He attributed the turn of events to the anti-conversion law.
In turn, the Hindu Munnani unit of Kancheepuram district has filed a complaint that the Christians had forcibly converted Dhanasekhar.
In a press release, the Hindu Munnani accused the police of threatening Dhanasekhar on behalf of the Christians. It has also charged the local police with using derogatory remarks against Hindu Munnani leaders, a charge the police deny.
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