Four women arrested in Nepal for trying to convert people into Christianity

Four women, including two Japanese nationals, were arrested in western Nepal for allegedly trying to convert dalits and landless people into Christianity, police said here on Sunday.

The women were arrested when they were visiting door to door in poor dalits houses and approaching landless people in Butawal area with the purpose of converting them into Christianity by promising them financial assistance, they said.

Some residents of Butawal followed the four women secretly and captured their movements in a video and handed it over to the police, following which the arrests were made, police said.

The women have been identified as Japanese nationals Yasura Owa, 49, and Makihikula, 44, and Nepalese nationals Pushpa Ghimire, 25, and Tirthamaya Ghale, 35.

Religious conversion is a crime and punishable offence in Nepal. However, there have been several media reports of secretly launching a conversion campaign in the Hindu nation from time to time.

(With inputs from agencies.)