Dalit Hindu employees discriminated, abused with casteist slurs and denied salary for refusing to convert to Christianity by Christian principal
Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India 
5 April, 2026
Case Summary
In Raipur, Chhattisgarh, Hindu employees of Salem School were ill-treated, subjected to casteist abuse, and harassed and coerced into converting to receive their due salaries by the Christian Principal and the school management. The matter came to light when several employees contacted the police and stated that the school management, particularly Rupika Lawrence and Nitin Lawrence, had been pressuring them to convert to Christianity. The staff stated that they were told that if they adopted Christianity, their salaries and PF dues would be released regularly. They further stated that they were abused with casteist slurs and were told that if they converted to Christianity, they would no longer be called “low class”. They further stated that if they refused to convert, they would have to leave their jobs. Employees said that this pressure had been continuing alongside persistent workplace harassment and humiliation. The employees also stated that they had been prevented from practising their Hindu traditions within the school premises. According to them, they were stopped from performing daily prayers and lighting diyas. They further said that when they attempted to carry out such practices, they were taunted and accused of engaging in witchcraft ( “जादू-टोना”). The video further showed a former employee stating that the school management had maintained a “double character”. He said that, on the one hand, the management had submitted letters supporting government bills on religious laws, while, on the other hand, it had been compelling staff members to convert to Christianity. He stated that this conduct had misled the administration and concealed what had been happening inside the institution. Apart from the religious pressure, the employees raised serious financial grievances. They stated that their salaries had not been paid on time for the last two years. They further stated that their Provident Fund had not been deposited during this period. According to the staff, an amount of approximately ₹80 lakh meant for the employees’ PF fund had not been deposited. The employees and complainants described the overall conduct of the management as a “divide and rule” policy and demanded immediate legal and administrative action against those responsible.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category Predatory Proselytisation. Within this, the selected subcategory is: Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion". 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 has 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, forceful circumcision etc. 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 to ensure the Hindu victim abandons his/her professed religion and adopts the religion of the perpetrator. 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 other subcategory selected 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. Another primary category selected is- Hate speech against Hindus. The selected subcategory is - Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith. Anti-Hindu slurs and the deliberate mocking of the Hindu faith owing to religious animosity involve the usage of derogatory terms, stereotypes, or offensive references to religious practices, symbols, or figures. One of the common anti-Hindu slurs used against Hindus is “cow-worshipper” and “cow piss drinker”. The intention of using this term is to demean and mock Hindus as a group and their religious beliefs since Hindus consider the cow holy. Additionally, some symbols and the slurs attached to them have a historical context that exacerbates the insult, hate, stereotyping, dehumanisation and oppression against Hindus. Cow worship has been used for centuries to denigrate Hindus, insult their faith and oppress Hindus specifically as a religious group. There has been overwhelming documentation about how cow slaughter has been used to persecute Hindus, with cow meat being thrown in temples and places of worship. There has also been overwhelming documentation where cow meat (beef) has been force-fed to Hindus to either forcefully convert them to Islam or denigrate their faith. Apart from cow worship, the Swastika – which holds deep religious significance for the Hindus – has also been misinterpreted and distorted to use as a slur against Hindus. Similarly, the worship of the Shivling has been used by supremacist ideologies and religions to denigrate Hindus owing to religious animosity. Such slurs and denigration stem from inherent animosity and hate towards Hindus and their faith; therefore, it is categorised as hate speech targeted at Hindus specifically owing to their religious identity. This case reflected a clear instance of religiously motivated coercion and discrimination directed at Hindu employees within their workplace. The core issue was not merely a dispute over salary or service conditions, but the use of pressure tactics to compel employees to abandon their professed faith. Linking dignity, continued employment, and financial dues with religious conversion directly interfered with the employees’ freedom of conscience and their right to practise their religion without fear. What made the conduct particularly grave was the identity-based humiliation used as a tool of pressure. Hindu employees were made to feel inferior because of their religion and were subjected to demeaning remarks that lowered their status within the institution. By creating the impression that respect and fair treatment were conditional upon conversion, the management fostered an atmosphere of intimidation and psychological coercion aimed at weakening their religious identity. Here, it can be argued that a caste-specific slur is aimed at her micro identity of belonging to the Dalit section of the Hindu community and not her Hindu identity itself. However, in the context of Abrahamic religions, the micro-identities of caste, region, and language are secondary. It is the religious identity that drives the animosity of the perpetrator against the Hindu victim. In this case, while the accused hurled caste abuses at the victim, the animosity was driven by his animosity towards Hinduism and Hindus. Further, the suppression of routine Hindu practices within the school premises further strengthened the discriminatory character of the incident. Preventing Hindu employees from lighting diyas, offering prayers, or expressing their faith in ordinary ways amounted to a direct restriction on the expression of Hindu identity. The accompanying mockery of these practices as “witchcraft” was not a neutral comment but a deliberate act of denigration of Hindu beliefs and customs. The prolonged withholding of salaries, PF dues, and festival-related benefits added a coercive economic dimension to the pressure. For long-serving employees, such deprivation created vulnerability and dependence, making the demand to convert even more intimidating. When financial security is implicitly tied to abandoning one’s religion, the pressure ceases to be incidental and becomes a calculated means of coercion. Taken together, the incident showed a sustained pattern of harassment, humiliation, and restriction targeted specifically at Hindu employees because they chose to remain within their faith. The conduct was demeaning, coercive, and identity-based in nature, and therefore clearly warranted inclusion in the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The video footage showed approximately 4 to 5 women among the complainants and affected employees. Since the exact number of victims was not specified in the media report or the video, the victim count has been conservatively recorded as five (5) based on the individuals visible in the footage. This is an indicative estimate for documentation purposes, and the actual number of affected victims may be higher.
Victim Details
Total Victim
5
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 5
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 4
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 1
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 5
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
