Hindu community members in Gadarpur being targted for religious conversion at church prayer meeting
Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand, India 
28 March, 2026
Case Summary
A church in Ramjivanpur No. 3, Gadarpur, Udham Singh Nagar district, Uttarakhand was found to be conducting conversion activities during a regular Sunday prayer meeting, triggering a tense atmosphere in the area. Saini Samaj members submitted a formal memorandum to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate demanding the programme be stopped. The Sub-Divisional Magistrate immediately sent Kanungo Vinod Kumar to the church, where the ongoing prayer programme was stopped and those present were questioned. Members of Saini Samaj raised concerns that conversion activities were being conducted at the local church in Ramjivanpur No. 3 during what was presented as a regular prayer meeting. Upon receiving the complaint, Sub-Divisional Magistrate Richa Singh immediately dispatched Kanungo Vinod Kumar to the village church. Upon the team's arrival, the ongoing prayer programme was stopped and officials gathered information from those present by questioning them. A large number of people gathered outside the church premises during the intervention, creating a period of mild tension in the area. The Christian community denied the allegations of conversion, stating that only prayer and spiritual activities were taking place at the church. They also claimed that their peaceful religious activities had been wrongly characterised as a dispute. Sub-Divisional Magistrate Richa Singh stated that further action would be taken based on the team's report and that the religious freedom of no community would be violated. The investigation was ongoing at the time of this documentation.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category for this case is "Predatory Proselytisation". The sub-category here is "Conversion/attempt 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 sub-category here is "Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation and subtle indoctrination". 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 grooming or 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 grooming or 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. This case qualified as a religiously motivated hate crime. A church in Ramjivanpur No. 3, Gadarpur was found to be conducting conversion activities during a regular Sunday prayer meeting. The activities targeted the Hindu community of the village. Saini Samaj members raised formal concerns with the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, prompting immediate administrative intervention and the stopping of the prayer programme. The use of a regular Sunday prayer meeting as the vehicle for conversion activities reflected a deliberate and calculated strategy of using a familiar and non-threatening spiritual gathering format to draw vulnerable Hindu individuals toward Christianity. The prayer meeting format created a false sense of innocent spiritual community that lowered the guard of Hindu individuals who attended, making them more receptive to the conversion activities being conducted within the gathering. The organised and regular nature of the prayer meetings confirmed that the conversion activities were not spontaneous or isolated but part of a sustained and planned operation directed at the Hindu community of the village. The deliberate use of subtle indoctrination through the guise of prayer and spiritual activities reflected a calculated strategy of gradually drawing vulnerable Hindu individuals away from their Hindu faith through sustained and organised religious persuasion. Rather than engaging in open and transparent religious dialogue, the church conducted its conversion activities under the cover of a regular prayer meeting, exploiting the trust and spiritual openness of Hindu individuals who attended the gathering as an instrument of sustained psychological manipulation directed at their Hindu religious identity. The speed and defensiveness of the denial, combined with the expression of resentment at the administrative intervention, reflected a response more consistent with the concealment of activities that could not withstand scrutiny than with the genuine innocence of a community whose lawful spiritual practices had been mischaracterised. The Sub-Divisional Magistrate's decision to immediately dispatch an official to stop the programme and gather information, rather than dismissing the Saini Samaj's concerns as unfounded, further reflected the administration's own assessment that the concerns raised were serious and credible enough to warrant immediate intervention. Given that this case met the parameters of a religiously motivated hate crime, it was added to the hate crime database of the tracker.
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
