Christians continue to deny Hindu allegations of ‘paid’ conversions, as violence which started in Orissa has spread to the south-western state of Karnataka.

Police in Karnataka state arrested a senior leader of a right-wing Hindu group on September 19 in connection with attacks on 20 Christian churches and prayer halls which injured at least 34 people, including five police.

The earlier violence in Orissa began after the August 24 slaying of Hindu anti-Christian religious leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati.

While police attributed the murder to Maoist rebels – who themselves claimed responsibility for the killing - right-wing Hindu groups continue to blame Christians, killing 25 people, and attacking Christian churches, shops, homes and orphanages.

More than 20,000 are still displaced, fleeing to government camps.

Like many Christians in their state, Jagat and Jyotsna, two Orissan Christians teaching at Union Biblical Seminary in the nearby state of Pune, converted to Christianity from Hinduism.

However, they flatly deny claims by right-wing Hindus that missionaries have targeted poor Indians, either bribing or forcing them to convert.

“There has been a law for 50 years against forceable conversions. So if forceable conversion is being practised by Christians, why is it that not a single case has ever been brought before the courts?” Jagat asked.

The pair were interviewed for SC by Australian CMS missionaries.

They say persecution in Orissa – where Australian missionary Graham Steins was burnt to death along with his two sons in 1999