A Christian doctor in India has been barred from dealing with COVID-19 patients due to accusations that she is forcefully converting people to Christ, reports say.
The Madhya Pradesh State launched the "Kill Corona" program, and they employed Dr. Sandhya Tiwari as part of it. She offered prayers of healing to all of her patients who were infected with the virus.
The International Christian Concern (ICC) determined that the complainant, a local man, had filed a criminal complaint against her for what he considered inappropriate behavior. To this, police officials confiscated her mobile phone and Christian flyers as evidence.
Although India has several prohibitions against conversion, the legislation is oftentimes exploited by Hindu radicals who want to oppress religious minorities. Christians are often accused of coercive conversions, typically used as a justification for attack and intimidation of believers.
In a video that's now circulating on social media, Dr. Tiwari speaks out and defends her action.
"What is wrong in telling them that God heals? I did not tell anybody to convert or forced anybody to pray to Jesus, I am being a Christian, I told them that Jesus heals," she said.
The event happened in Bajna village in Ratlam district in India on Saturday, per news site New Indian Express.
In a conversation with the Press Trust India on Sunday, tehsildar B S Thakur said that a citizen had informed the administration that Dr. Tiwari, a government contract doctor, was proselytizing Christianity during the 'Kill Corona' campaign.
He went on to say that a report is being drafted, which would be given to the chief officials.
In the video, the lady doctor, who is wearing a face mask, is seen conversing to a guy who was documenting the situation on his smartphone.
The guy can be heard saying, "Why are you telling people that they will recover by praying Jesus? Why are you not saying that people should pray according to their own religion?"
Dr. Tiwari replied that many people are getting well as a result of giving prayers to Jesus.
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On Twitter, Bhopal Huzur MLA Rameshwar Sharma (a BJP representative) and many other BJP politicians reposted the video along with their statements of condemnation.
"In such a situation, the woman doctor is propagating a religion. This is condemnable," Sharma told PTI.
When questioned about the incident, Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Dr Prabhakar Nanaware said that a complaint had been forwarded to the district collector.
According to the report, the contract doctor's services should be terminated.
In command of the police station in Bajna Dilip Rajoriya said that the case would be registered following an investigation.
"So far, no case has been registered," he said.
An anonymous local Christian contact told ICC: "This is the state of religious freedom in our state, we can be booked for a conversion that we might have with people of other faith, in most cases the facts are twisted to suit to an agenda and sadly the state machinery are handy to victimize the minorities."
"If the situation is such for a medical professional, the condition for the common Christian could be much worse," the source added.
