School headmaster in Bilaspur makes people pledge they won’t worship Hindu Gods and practice Buddhism instead
Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India 
21 January, 2024
Case Summary
On January 28th, Ratanlal Sarovar, a school headmaster in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district, was detained for inciting religious hatred. On January 22nd, during the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha in Ayodhya, Sarovar delivered a speech in Mohtarai village urging students and villagers not to believe in Hindu Gods and to practice Buddhism instead. The speech, recorded and shared on YouTube, prompted Hindu activist Rupesh Shukla to file a police complaint, stating it hurt Sanatan Dharma practitioners' sentiments. Sarovar claimed he was promoting B R Ambedkar's teachings, though he identified as Hindu. Following the incident, he was suspended by the school administration and placed in judicial custody. The police registered an FIR against him under IPC sections 153A and 295A for promoting enmity and outraging religious feelings.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been categorised as a religious hate crime where brainwashing and manipulation were deployed. Religious brainwashing essentially means the often subtle and forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up their religious beliefs to accept contrasting regimented ideas. Religious brainwashing also involves propaganda and manipulation. It involves the systematic effort, driven by religious malice and indoctrination, to persuade “non-believers’ to accept allegiance, command, or doctrine to and of a contrasting faith. Cases of such brainwashing are far more nuanced than direct threats, coercion, inducement and violence. In such cases, it is often seen that there is repeated, subtle and continual manipulation of the victim to induce disaffection towards their own faith and acceptance of the contrasting faith of the perpetrator. While subtle indoctrination is widely acknowledged as predatory, an element which is often understated in such conversions or the attempts of such conversion is the role of loyalty and trust which might develop between the perpetrator and the victim. Fiduciary relationships are often abused to affect such religious conversion. For example, an educator transmitting religious doctrine of a competing faith to a Hindu student. The Hindu student is likely to accept what the teacher is transmitting owing to the existence of the fiduciary relationship. The exploitation of the fiduciary relationship to religiously indoctrinate victims would also be included in this category. Since the underlying animosity towards the victim’s faith forms the basis of predatory proselytisation, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes.
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Others
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
