Hindus offered medical inducements and brainwashed to convert to Christianity in Uttar Pradesh
Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
27 September, 2025
Case Summary
A mass conversion attempt took place in Bhagaura village of Sahjanwa, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, where a group of five to six Christian individuals tried to convert nearly one hundred Hindus to Christianity by offering inducements of medical treatment. The incident came to light on Sunday, 29th September 2025, when Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) officials, including Sant Kabir Nagar district vice-president Saurabh Jaiswal, received information about the activity and reached the village. When the VHP team opposed the conversion attempt, the perpetrators reacted aggressively, hurled abuses, and issued death threats. The VHP immediately informed the local police. A police team reached the location and detained six individuals, including two women, for questioning. The main accused was a beauty parlour owner named Lakshmi Yadav, who had been converting poor people to Christianity by luring them with false promises. She personally conducted prayer meetings after learning from YouTube — a role usually performed by a pastor in church. She had been brainwashing poor Hindu families to embrace Christianity under the pretext of curing illnesses. VHP volunteers stated to the police that she had been instigating around one hundred people for religious conversion. The police arrested Lakshmi Yadav along with her accomplice, a woman named Roshni. From their possession, the police recovered Bibles, a gospel booklet, a Christian hymn book, several photographs, an old diary containing occult writings, and two mobile phones. The police also found a handkerchief that she used on sick people, asserting that it could remove illnesses. In addition, several videos related to religious conversion were discovered on the mobile phones. Police investigations revealed that Lakshmi had learned about Christianity from YouTube and had acquired the practice of conducting prayers from online videos. Multiple contact numbers found in her mobile indicated that her network extended to several nearby villages. During interrogation, Lakshmi stated that her husband had left her. Around five years earlier, she had developed kidney stones and suffered persistent pain despite undergoing treatment in several places. Acting on someone’s suggestion, she visited Bahraich for treatment, where she was given a book and instructed to pray daily. She said her pain subsided after she started praying. Subsequently, Lakshmi explored Christianity further on the internet, learned prayers through videos, and began organising prayer meetings for villagers. Every Sunday, she conducted special prayer gatherings during which poor Hindu families were targeted and indoctrinated to adopt Christianity. The Hindu victims were drawn into these meetings with assurances of healing and free medicines. A healing prayer session was underway in her house at the time of the police intervention.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category in this case is: Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory under this 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. Another subcategory selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation, or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary category selected is- Pattern of targeting Hindus. In several cases, Hindus are attacked for opposing religiously motivated crimes being committed against a fellow Hindu or simply for voicing an opinion opposing radical elements, who either have in the past or continue to persecute Hindus. In such cases, the initial attack against the victim, against which the Hindu was trying to defend the victim, would also need to be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime. Since the initial crime itself was religiously motivated and the subsequent crime of attempting to save the victim or speaking against the radical elements ends up inviting a violent attack, it would also be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under this category. Another primary category in this case is: Attack not resulting in death. The subcategory under this is: Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim. In several cases, Hindus are attacked for opposing religiously motivated crimes being committed against a fellow Hindu or simply for voicing an opinion opposing radical elements, who either have in the past or continue to persecute Hindus. In such cases, the initial attack against the victim, against which the Hindu was trying to defend the victim, would also need to be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime. Since the initial crime itself was religiously motivated and the subsequent crime of attempting to save the victim or speaking against the radical elements ends up inviting a violent attack, it would also be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under this category. In this case, the Hindu victims were offered medical inducements under the pretext of curing illnesses as a means to lure them into conversion to Christianity. Poor villagers, many suffering from health problems, were promised healing and treatment if they attended Christian prayer gatherings and converted. Such inducements reveal deep-seated religious animosity, as they prey on the vulnerability and desperation of the Hindu victims. The Christian perpetrators deliberately exploited their medical needs to create dependence and then used that dependency to push a change of faith, targeting them precisely for their religious identity, making it a religiously motivated crime. The Hindu victims were also subjected to systematic brainwashing. They were told that placing the accused's handkerchief on their faces could cure their illnesses and that their suffering would end entirely. This form of manipulation was intended to create trust and belief in the perpetrator’s supposed spiritual powers. Using fabricated methods of 'healing' to manipulate innocent Hindus into believing in the superiority of another faith is a direct manifestation of religious animosity, as it seeks to undermine their beliefs and coerce them into conversion. Furthermore, the brainwashing extended to using Christian religious texts like the Bible. The victims were brainwashed with the intent of sowing doubt in their own faith. This manipulation leveraged the language and authority of one religion to influence and confuse individuals of another, luring them into adopting Christianity. Such actions demonstrate deep-seated religious animosity, as they aim to dismantle the victims’ cultural and religious identity through targeted psychological manipulation. This was not an isolated incident involving one or two individuals. It was a calculated, large-scale effort, targeting almost one hundred Hindus for conversion. The scale of the operation shows it was part of a sustained pattern of activity rather than a random occurrence. The systematic approach, repeated sessions, and wide geographic reach all indicate premeditated intent to convert Hindus on a mass scale, reinforcing the underlying religious hostility driving the actions. When Hindu activists from the Vishva Hindu Parishad attempted to stop these activities, they were met with hostility, abuse, and death threats from the perpetrators. This aggression demonstrates that those who stand in defence of Hindu identity and attempt to protect Hindu victims become targets themselves, attacked specifically because of their religious affiliation. Such responses further confirm the religious motivation underpinning the crime and frame it squarely within the spectrum of hate crimes. Given that this case meets all established parameters of a religiously motivated offence — from inducements targeting a specific faith group, to psychological manipulation, mass targeting, and aggression against defenders of the faith — it has been added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker.
Victim Details
Total Victim
100
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 0
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 100
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 100
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 100
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 5 to 10
Perpetrators Gender
both
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