Hindu woman pressured to convert to Christianity in Ghaziabad; offered money

Case ID : 23b6c59 | Location : Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sun, 29 September, 2024

Case ID : 23b6c59

Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India

29 September, 2024

Hindu woman pressured to convert to Christianity in Ghaziabad; offered money

Predatory Proselytisation

Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement

Case Summary

In the Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu woman reported that she was pressured to convert to Christianity by her neighbour, Pushpa, and her associates. The woman said that Pushpa had been coercing her for a long time, promising that all her problems would be solved and offering money as an incentive. Pushpa and her accomplices urged her to attend prayer meetings for 2-3 months, with the assurance that she would receive financial aid. Despite the woman’s repeated refusals, she was continuously tempted with new promises. While the woman was on her way home, Pushpa, along with other women, approached her and insisted that she worship God as a Christian, claiming, "Look at me, how I have benefitted as a Christian." Pushpa then forcibly took the victim to the house of a man named Sonu, where a Christian prayer meeting was taking place. At the meeting, the woman was forced to participate in the prayer rituals. During the prayer session, the victim's husband, along with some companions, arrived at the location and protested against the forced conversion attempts. They intervened and brought the woman back to her home. Following this incident, the victim lodged a formal police complaint on September 30, 2024. She also accused Pushpa of converting several other individuals to Christianity using similar tactics.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been placed in the tracker under the prime category- Predatory Proselytisation. Under this, the sub-category selected 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. Here, the accused, Pushpa and her associates, exploited the economic vulnerability of the Hindu woman by offering promises of monetary aid and problem-solving if she converted to Christianity. In cases like this, money becomes a powerful tool for influencing individuals from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, making them more susceptible to coercion. The repeated offers of financial incentives highlight how the victim's economic challenges were preyed upon, with Pushpa presenting Christianity as a solution to her struggles. The coercive pressure to attend prayer meetings and forcibly participate in Christian rituals underscores the manipulative nature of this proselytisation attempt. By leveraging the woman’s financial need, the accused sought to weaken her attachment to her Hindu faith, aiming to convert her under the guise of providing help and security. This exploitation of economic vulnerability reflects the predatory nature of such actions, where religion becomes a vehicle for control, using inducements to disenfranchise individuals from their faith. Since the motivating factor of the crime was the religious identity of the Hindu victim and the intention of disenfranchising her from it, the case has been included in the tracker.