Two American citizens Jordan, 28, and Hajia, 30, representing US-based ‘Jehovah’s Witness’ (www.jw.org) were arrested in Hyderabad on 17-April for their unlawful involvement in street evangelism.
Madhapur Police registered an FIR under sections 153b of IPC on these two foreigners. Two Indian women who were accompanying them have also been taken into custody by police.
The four arrested people were found illegally trespassing into houses of local residents, dropping pro-Christian pamphlets and forcefully preaching Bible in Madhapur, which is hub for multi-national software companies in Hyderabad.
It is believed that the two arrested American citizens are staying in India since February 2019 on a tourist Visa. They rented an apartment in Sheikpet and are said to be carrying out religious activities in surrounding areas.
Madhapur Police caught them red-handed preaching and distributing Evangelical pamphlets on 21st February, 2019 but were let off with mild caution.
However, Jordan and Hajia ignored police warning and restarted street evangelism and tried to trespass into the house of Mr. Singa Narayana, a software Engineer at Hi Tech City who alerted the police and handed over them to nearest police station on Wednesday.
When this news came into the notice of Shiva Shakthi organization, an NGO working for the rights of Hindus, they approached police department demanding strict legal action against the repeat offenders for violating Indian Visa norms.
Foreign Nationals involving religious activities with any visa is strictly prohibited in India and doing such activities come under violation of Indian Visa norms as per section 14(b) of the Foreigners Act 1946.
