Goemkarponn desk
PONDA: One Gauresh Khotarkar complained against twelve, including his wife and in-laws, to pressurise him to convert his religion.
Teh Vishwa Hindu Parishad has demanded to stop forceful religious conversion of Hindu families.
Khotarkar filed a complaint with Crime Branch, Ribandar, Goa, against twelve people.
Some of the accused are from Margao, he said who threatened him to convert his religion.
He said his wife and her family have converted to religion, and now the entire family pressuring him to convert his faith into Christianity/ believers.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) President Santosh Mahanandu Naik, former MLA Mohan Amshekar, and complainant Gauresh Khotarkar addressed a press briefing.
The VHP members said the poor Hindu community family are targeted to convert religion, luring them with monetary promises. Such people convert their religion keeping original Hindu names and thus difficult to identify who are Hindus and Christians.
According to complainant Gaureshwar Kotharkar, he is basically from Karwar and presently residing in Santacruz Tiswadi Goa and working in a Pharma company at Goa.
He was cheated by his wife and her family members presently residing in Goa, and natives of Karwar are now pressurising and threatening to convert his religion.
He said he had married the Karwar girl in 2020, thinking that she is Hindu.
However, a few months later, when he returned to Goa, his wife cheated on him. Though she has a Hindu name, she and her family had changed her religion before her marriage to protested Christianity/ Believers practising that religion keeping their original names.
He said after his marriage, there was a lot of pressure from his wife`s family for his conversion.
However, he said, he refused to convert his religion. His wife threatened him and filed a dowry and her gold ornament theft case at Karwar Police station three months back to harass him for not converting his religion.
He demanded Crime Branch Goa and Karnataka Police investigate and stop his wife`s family from forcing him to convert his religion.
He also demanded to take action against those accused involved in the forceful conversion of his wife and her family.