Religious conversion racket unearthed in Bhopal involving child welfare workers
Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India 
4 January, 2024
Case Summary
In Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, a case of religious conversion involving child welfare workers came to light. People working for the Child Helpline were found converting Hindu children to Christianity instead of presenting them to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC). These workers kept the children in Christian missionary institutions, exploiting their vulnerable state. The National and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights uncovered this during a surprise raid at "Aanchal Children Homes," finding over 40 tribal girls being converted. The institution was operating illegally under the Juvenile Justice Act, with no police verification for employees, and non-compliance with government rules. Documents revealed the involvement of the ChildLine Foundation's employees. Despite severe irregularities, local police were initially reluctant to register an FIR. Officials tweeted about the police's inaction, bringing attention to the issue.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
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 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 proselytization, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. In this specific case, it is evident from the details that the victims were minors which essentially means that the element of consent and genuine change of conscience was missing ab initio. Since the underlying offence is against children of a specific faith and involves indoctrination and illegal conversion, this case is being categorised as a hate crime.
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
N/A
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
