The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Controversy surrounds foreigners' visit to slum

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 06, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Controversy surrounds foreigners' visit to slum

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: Religious speeches allegedly made by a group of American tourists during a visit to Palamuru Basti, a slum in Baghlingampally, sparked controversy with Bharatiya Janata Party activists accusing them of attempting religious conversions on Thursday.

The Chikkadpally police took the 25 foreigners, most of them women, into custody initially, but let them off saying they were not at fault. However, a case under Section 298 (uttering words hurting religious sentiments) of Indian Penal Code was registered against four locals, including two pastors, who were guiding the foreigners in going around the city.

The foreigners flew to Hyderabad a couple of days ago.

The quartet took them to Venkateswara temple (Birla mandir) and other places of historical interest in the past two days. On Thursday, the foreigners were taken to the slum. After interacting with the local families, one of the tourists addressed the gathering on religious matters.

On learning about this, BJP activists led by former MLA Prem Singh Rathore rushed to the spot and entered into an argument with the American tourists accusing them of persuading locals to convert to Christianity.

Later, they took the matter to the notice of police. Chikkadpally police station Inspector V.N.V. Satyanarayana said religious campaign by a foreigner possessing tourist visa was an offence. "Our inquiries revealed that these tourists had no such intention. Hence, we released them," he said.

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