Police nab four men for reading the Bible near Andhra’s Srisailam temple

According to the police, the men violated the AP Propagation of other religion in the places of worship or prayer (Prohibition) Act.

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In the temple town of Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh, four men have been nabbed by the police for reading the Bible at a park close to the Mallikarjuna temple. The four men, Peter, Timothy, Praveen and Joshua were brought to the Srisailam I Town police station by the temple security staff, police said.

According to I Town Sub-Inspector Vijay Kumar, on Friday evening around 4 30 pm, the four men were spotted by the temple security staff at Rudra park, located at a distance of about a kilometre from the temple. “The four accused had attended a religious meeting somewhere nearby. After that, they came to the park, and we were told that they opened a copy of the Bible and kept it there. They also took photos with the Bible. As they were reading the Bible, the temple security staff noticed them and reported it to the Chief Security Officer. They were then brought to the station and case was registered,” SI Vijay Kumar told TNM.

According to Vijay Kumar, the act of reading the Bible and taking photos with the book near the temple violates the Andhra Pradesh Propagation of other religion in the places of worship or prayer (Prohibition) Act, 2007 as the temple and the hills come under the Act. The Act however makes no mention of the distance. The four men were booked under Section 153A of the IPC (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc. and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony). They have since been sent to court and were released on bail.