Hazaribagh, Sep 3 (IANS): Around 120 people from 67 families ‘returned’ from Christianity to Hinduism in Barka Khurd Panchayat, Ichak block, Hazaribagh district, Jharkhand on Tuesday. They were converted to Christianity a few months ago by Christian missionaries.

An event was organized by Sanatan Samaj at the Shiv temple in Barka Khurd, Jharkhand, where those who returned to Hinduism were welcomed with a foot-washing ceremony amid chants of “Om.”

Most of the families who returned to Hinduism are Dalits, with a significant number of women among them.

Acharya Pushpa Shastri of Arsh Kanya Gurukul, along with 20 girls performed the rituals for their return to Sanatan Dharma. All participants took part in the collective rituals locally called ‘aachman’ and ‘Yajnopaveet’.

Many women who returned to Hinduism said that they were initially invited to satsang and then in the pretext of discussing Shiv Charcha were made to discuss Jesus Christ. They were also paid for this.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other Hindu organizations claim that Christian missionaries are converting economically weaker families by luring them into pentecostal-style faith-healing sessions called ‘changai sabhas’, where they claim they will be cured of their diseases.

The converts and the villagers in Barka Khurd Panchayat had expressed desire to return to their original faith, but could not find a way for ‘ghar wapsi’.

During the ritual organized on Tuesday, thousands of Sanatan Dharma followers along with several VHP functionaries including provincial organization, provincial president, BJP district president and others were present.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad's provincial president Chandrakant Raipat said that the administration should take immediate action by identifying the organizations and individuals involved in converting Hindus in the name of curing them of diseases. It is a crime to convert people by luring them or by fraud.