Bajrang Dal workers barge into Christian prayer meet at Worli school

Bajrang Dal workers barge into Christian prayer meet at Worli school
Devotees confront Bajrang Dal activists after the ruckus
Police issue notice to organisers asking them to seek permission in future.

Workers from the Bajrang Dal – the youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad – barged into a prayer meeting organised by Protestant Christians in a BMC school at Worli Naka on Sunday. Suspecting that it was a cover for religious conversions, the Bajrang Dal workers first video-recorded the meeting, organised by the New Life Fellowship Association, before calling the police.

Rather than book the activists for harassment or trespassing, the police acted on their complaint and issued a notice under Section 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code to Allen Salins, a pastor from Mangalore who was the chief guest at the program.

They also issued a similar notice to the Bajrang Dal activists, warning them not to not barge into such meetings in the future. The notice mentioned that the activists did not have the authority to take matters into their own hands and should have approached the police.

The notice to Salins, issued by senior inspector of Worli police station Sukhlal Varpe, said that the organisers did not have permission for the event and that they should seek permission from the Worli police before holding any such meeting in the future. “Bajrang Dal workers took objection to this meeting [which] has disturbed the social harmony and could lead to law and order situation in the area,” the notice read. “If communal harmony is disturbed because of you or any of your colleagues in future you will be legally prosecuted. Also this notice will be used against you before the court as evidence,” it went to on say.

Salins told Mumbai Mirror, “This was a shock to all of us. We gather at such meetings to pray and sing songs. There were about 70-80 of us and I shared my experiences about God. The NLF Association had paid the school for the event. There was no question of us creating a law and order situation.”

When told that the New Life Fellowship Association had permission from the school, Varpe said, “Even though they had permission from the school they should have informed us about this religious meeting. They can’t organise any such meeting without intimating us and taking our permission.”

Dinesh Shrivastav, 28, the Bajrang Dal’s Dadar district coordinator, led the activists on Sunday. Originally from Madhya Pradesh, he now lives in Worli and he works with Vivo in Andheri as a team leader. He told Mumbai Mirror that his colleague Vimal Malik had informed him about the meeting. He said, “We knew that these Christian missionaries spread superstitions and mislead poor people from Worli to join the Christian religion so they will be free of all their problems.”

Shrivastav added that he designated one worker for video recording while eight others, including him, stood outside silently. He said that when confronted, the priest tried to leave the program and several women defended him. “But we objected and told them to wait until the police arrived. Many people haven’t change their names but started following other religion. If this is the result of such meetings, they should hold them in church. Why it is happening in a school?” he said.


Incidentally, Shrivastav’s WhatsApp status reads: “Dharmyudha main nimantran nahin bheje jate. Jo veer hote hai woh khud ranbhumi main chale aate hain! Jai Shriram. (Invites are not sent in a holy war. The brave enter the battlefield themselves.)”

Prominent Christians condemned the Bajrang Dal’s actions. Dolphy D’souza, former president of the Bombay Catholic Sabha, said, “We condemn the goondagiri of those who disrupted the gathering. The police should have been strict with them but allowed them to go with a mild warning. If they had any grievances they could have informed the police rather than take law into their own hands.”


Devdan Tribhuvan of the Central Mumbai Christian Fellowship told Mumbai Mirror that the organisation was consulting legal experts to see what they could do to challenge the police notice. “We have been holding such meetings for years. But there are not enough churches in the city and hence such arrangements are made. The space is not used free of cost. Auditoriums, schools (on Sundays) and community halls are used. If these types of threats become common, how will be hold our meetings? Allegations that we perform religious conversions at such meetings are baseless and ill-informed.”
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