A Chennai-based woman software professional’s decision to embrace Christianity stirred up tension in suburban Irumbuliyur near Tambaram when her parents, along with nearly 100 people from a Hindu outfit, tried to lay siege to a church on Sunday.
The techie, who had resigned from Infosys in Mahindra City in Kanchipuram district, is a native of Secunderabad in Andhra Pradesh.
The police detained the protesters and released them later in the evening.
The parents of Ms Lakshmi Priya, 28, said that she had converted to Christianity after she started visiting the Pentecost Church on Old GST Road along with her roommate.
“Both were staying in a hostel in Tambaram and Lakshmi Priya used to accompany her friend, a Christian, to the church. She later converted. One and a half years back she resigned and became a Sister at the church. Her parents, Varadarajalu, 62, a goldsmith, and Amritha Bhai had approached the Chennai city police seeking help saying that her daughter had been forcefully converted,” the police said here.
Based on the complaint, Selaiyur Assistant Commissioner Dhanaraj conducted an enquiry. Lakshmi Priya, however, told the police that she, being an adult, had the right to choose her religion and nobody had forced her to convert.
However, her family was not ready to accept her version and accused the church of taking all the money she had received from her former company.
On Sunday, family members and members of Hindu Munnani, along with a few BJP activists, tried to lay siege to the church asking church authorities to “release Lakshmi Priya”. The police rushed to the spot and removed the protestors from the scene.
Veda Subramaniam, BJP national executive member, said that the family will now approach the court to get their “daughter back”.