An investigation by the district administration into the alleged religious conversion of children from different states of the country in St Joseph School in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior district found the allegations to be baseless.
The district administration's probe into allegations of religious conversion at the school in Badagaon, Gwalior, has found the charges to be false and unfounded. The inquiry revealed that all 26 children studying at the institution were already Christian-Catholic by faith, and their documents confirmed this.
According to officials, the children had come from five states, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Kerala, for skill development training after completing high school. The investigation team, led by SDM NC Gupta, found no evidence of conversion activities at the school or within the Bishop's Residence Complex located on the campus."No activities related to religious conversion were found during the inspection," officials said.
Following the clean chit, the school management and the Christian missionary organisation expressed relief and demanded action against those who they alleged "conspired to defame" the institution and "disrupt communal harmony" in Gwalior.
Father Harshil AX stated that the children were undergoing skill training in Hindi and English and that the organisation had always worked transparently. "Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia's ancestors gave us a place in this city to provide quality education. We have always worked to uplift children through education, not conversion," he said.
Pratap Toppo, President of the Roman Catholic Diocese of India, urged the authorities to identify and act against those spreading false narratives. "This is an attempt to defame us and spoil the atmosphere of the city. We fully support the investigation and expect strict action against the culprits," he said.
The controversy began after Hindu organisations, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and BJP representatives, alleged that 26 tribal children were being converted at the Bishop's Residence Complex. Acting on these complaints, the district administration and police visited the premises, spoke to the children, and verified their documents, which confirmed that all were born Christian.
VHP leader Pappu Verma had earlier claimed that children from poor tribal families were brought from other states and converted. The investigation has since disproven those claims, effectively quelling a potentially sensitive communal issue in the region.
