Nearly a week after a Protestant pastor was arrested, and his wife booked, for an alleged “forcible conversion”, the Goa Police handed over on Wednesday the case investigation to the Crime Branch.
Pastor Dominic D'Souza and their wife Joan were booked by the Goa Police under the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act, for allegedly luring a person to convert to Christianity by using money. Although Dominic was arrested, but released on bail on Friday, the police have, so far, not arrested his wife.
The couple runs the Five Pillars Church from Siolim village in North Goa.
The case was initially registered at the Mapusa police station, the officers which raided premises owned by the couple, seized CCTV footage of the church activities, as well as recorded books.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, on May 28, had commended the state police for cracking down on forced conversions in the state.
“As far as my information, our Home Department has done a good job with filing cases against Dominic who was accused of religious conversion. He claimed to use magic to compel people to convert themselves. There have always been complaints against him, but the police department had not acted against him in this manner,” the Chief Minister had said.
Published 01 June 2022, 17:18 IST