Christian Missionaries attempt to convert more than 50 Hindus at an event conducted under pretext of prayer meeting, Bibles and sealed envelopes containing money recovered
Hazaribag, Jharkhand, India 
17 February, 2024
Case Summary
A case of attempted religious conversion emerged in Navdih village under Korra police station in the Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand. Over 50 Hindus were targeted in a single room, with six missionaries arriving from Ranchi and Hazaribagh. Bibles and sealed envelopes containing money were recovered. Both sides filed applications at the Korra police station, prompting a police investigation. The incident took place at Urmila Devi's house in Mahendra Colony, where the missionaries promised Rs 15,000, education, and housing for converting. When news spread, villagers opposed the conversion attempt, leading to a police intervention. Six individuals were detained on charges of religious conversion. Ranjeet Kumar Soni, in his application, stated that he was lured with cash and benefits for converting and was beaten when he resisted. The opposing party denied these allegations, asserting they were there for a prayer meeting. During the police investigation, many items related to Christianity, including Bibles, documents, and cash, were seized. Some attendees and the missionaries admitted to the conversion attempt.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
Because of the case's specifics, we have put this case under the prime category: Predatory Proselytization and to narrow down the search further we have chosen the subcategory 'Attempting to convert by harassment/threat' under this core category in addition to 'Conversion/attempts to convert by inducement'. The first sub-category under 'Predatory Proselytisation' relevant in this case is 'Conversion/attempts to convert by inducement'. Predatory Proselytisation is not just limited to threat, harassment, force and violence, but it also has contours of stealth. In several cases, the Hindu victim is exploited to convert, with non-Hindus taking advantage of their poverty. In such cases, the Hindu victim who is suffering financially is offered monetary benefits, including lucrative offers for jobs, health treatment, education, etc, to induce the victim into changing his/her religion. In such cases, the religious identity of the victim and the aim to disenfranchise him from his faith form the heart of the crime. Also, taking advantage of and exploiting an individual’s economic vulnerabilities is widely acknowledged as exploitation, forms of which are often penalised by law. Such cases therefore are considered religiously motivated hate crimes since the victim’s religious identity forms the very heart of the crime itself. The second sub-category under 'Predatory Proselytisation' relevant here is, 'Attempting to convert by harassment/threat'. Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, including threats and coercion. Harassment and threats in this case find their root on discriminatory grounds which have the effect of nullifying a person’s rights or infringing upon his freedom to exercise his right specifically owing to the victim’s religious identity. Verbal and physical threats and psychological or physical harassment are often used against Hindu victims because they choose to practice their professed religion. Religious harassment also includes forced and involuntary conversions by harassment, threats or coercion. Coercion includes intimidatory tactics like force-feeding a Hindu victim beef to convert to another religion and forceful circumcision. In several cases documented, non-Hindu perpetrators or those who harbour specific animosity towards Hinduism, harass victims simply based on their religious identity. Such cases often also include harassment in an attempt to make the Hindu victim abandon his/her professed religion and adopt the religion of the perpetrator. In this sub-category, we would include cases where the non-Hindu perpetrator harassed, threatened or coerced the victim to convert, however, the Hindu victim did not convert to another faith. Cases where the victim was converted owing to the harassment and threats would be documented in another sub-category. Such cases where Hindu victims are harassed to convert to the perpetrator’s religion are rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. In this specific case, elements of both these subcategories were observed. Firstly, it is evident from the details that the Hindu victims belonged to the economically weaker section of the society. The accused were attempting to convert them by offering them money. Further, one of the victims testified that he was beaten when he resisted the conversion attempt. It is therefore observed that the accused not only attempted to convert the Hindu victim through inducement but also harassed them in an attempt to convert her. Since the motivating factor of the crime was the religious identity of the victims and the intention of disenfranchising them from it, the case has been categorised as a hate crime. Disclaimer: The details of this case reveal that more than 50 people were baptised by the accused, however, since it does not mention the exact number of victims, we have conservatively added 50 as the victim counts in the database.
Victim Details
Total Victim
50
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 0
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 50
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 50
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 50
Case Status
Case sub-judice
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 5 to 10
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
