Seventy-eight Christians belonging mostly to adivasis families in Orissa have formally embraced Hindu religion in a mass conversion ceremony.
The ceremony was organized by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
"These illiterate adivasis were misguided. When they realised that they had committed a mistake, they decided to return to their original faith through the function," said Gourishankar Rath, general secretary, VHP, Orissa.
Incidentally, a large number of those converted hail from Jamboni, a village where a Christian missionary was allegedly killed by Dara Singh and his supporters in 1999.
Any kind of conversion from one faith to another requires prior approval of the district administration under the Orissa Freedom Of Religion Act.