Christain Pastor in Indore booked for illegally threatening to convert Hindus to Christianity
Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India 
4 March, 2023
Case Summary
A 21-year-old Hindu man has demanded protection from a priest, Chris Norman Beberta in Indore citing threats to his life and property. On March 5, Chris came to the complainant's house and described Hindu gods as powerless. He then lured the victim to become a Christian by promising to give him money, a good education for the victim's children and employment for the young man. He further promised that the victim's father, who was under depression, would be treated in a good hospital in Baroda. Upon rejecting the offer and describing himself as a self-respecting Hindu, Father Norman got angry and threatened the victim. He said that his family would die in agony and Hinduism would bring him and his ill father ruin. Police have registered an FIR and taken the accused into custody.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This particular case has been classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under three subcategories of Predatory Proselytisation because of the various distinct components that demonstrate the perpetrator's bias against the Hindu faith and their deliberate attempt to alienate the victims from their Hindu identity. The first sub-category under 'Predatory Proselytisation' relevant in this case is conversion 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 in this case 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. The third sub-category under Predatory Proselytisation relevant in this case is 'Attempting to convert/converting by denigrating Hinduism' In several cases, Hindus are converted or an attempt is made to convert Hindus by denigrating their faith, Hinduism. In such cases, the Hindus associate with the non-Hindu perpetrators often by choice and then, the attempt to convert them by insulting their faith, showing the faith down etc begins. An example of this would be a non-Hindu gathering where the Hindus are attending the gathering of their own free will. However, once they attend the gathering, there is an explicit attempt to convert them by abusing their faith and hailing the faith of the perpetrator. The denigration of the Hindu faith is often based on misrepresentation of the Hindu faith, its doctrine and scriptures and insult to espoused traditions if not blatant lies about Hindu beliefs and ways. Such conversions or attempts at conversions are driven by animosity towards the Hindu faith and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. In this specific case, elements of all three sub-categories were observed. Firstly, it is evident from the details that the Hindu victim belonged to the economically weaker section of the society. The Christian pastor was attempting to convert him by offering inducement of money, a job and education for his children. Further, he was also threatened with harm that would come to her family if she refused to convert. Another element in the case was that the accused abused the victim's religion and also humiliated and abused him choosing to practice her professed religion. The details of the case make it evident that the crime was perpetrated with a specific intention to alienate the victims from their Hindu identity, while also harbouring a bias against the Hindu faith, hence this case has been classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under Predatory Proselytisation.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 1
- Female 0
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 1
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
