In a rare move, the Goa administration on Thursday banned a Christian pastor and his wife from carrying out "religious activities" at their Church in the North Goa village of Siolim, following complaints about religious conversion at the premises.
The order issued by the North Goa District Magistrate has also directed pastor Dominic D'Souza and his wife Joan from carrying out any further religious conversion in the North Goa district.
“Ban has been ordered to carry out religious activities by Mrs Joan Mascarenhas D’Souza and Mr Dominic D’Souza in their institutional building at Sodiem, Siolim, Bardez Goa in order to curb the religious conversions by means of allurement or fraud which may ultimately affect the freedom of religion and conscience of citizens,” according to the order by District Magistrate.
In May this year, the pastor and his wife had been arrested for forcible conversion of a person to Christianity by the state police, following a complaint.
Pastor Dominic D'Souza and his 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 through use of money. The couple runs the Five Pillars Church from Siolim village. After the First Information Report was registered, police had also seized CCTV footage and had also seized record books to track down the activities at the Church. The case was later transferred to the Crime Branch of the Goa Police.
The District Magistrate's order on Thursday also said that “given the emergent nature of the situation, immediate prevention is desirable. Therefore Mrs. Joan Mascarenhas D’Souza and Mr. Domnic D’Souza are directed to abstain from engaging in religious conversion".
Published 29 December 2022, 14:37 IST