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Imran Khan in Bhubaneswar
Four Harijan families comprising 19 members in all have converted to Christianity in Korua village of Orissa's Kendrapara district, Superintendent of Police Sanjay Kumar confirmed on Sunday.
The conversion took place recently in three phases.
Kumar denied any tension in the village following the event. "I was in the village on Sunday and met them," he said.
But a villager said Hindus in the village were annoyed and had ostracised the new converts.
The villager said three priests brought from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, by a relative of the four families carried out the conversions. The priests left after the conversions.
Kumar said the relative had embraced Christianity in Ahmedabad, where he works in a textile mill, two years ago.
Kumar said he was surprised when he heard of the conversions because he had not been informed beforehand by the families.
Under the state government's rules, those seeking to convert from one religion to another have to inform the district administration.
Kumar, however, said he could not take action against the four families because there was no evidence that they had converted to Christianity.
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