Poor and gullible Hindus targeted, manipulated, and induced to convert to Christianity by Christian missionaries in Dehradun, Uttarakhand
Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India 
28 April, 2026
Case Summary
In Uttarakhand, innocent Hindus were targeted and induced to convert to Christianity by promising false financial aid and miraculous healing. Amidst the illegal religious conversions in the Khateema region and its adjoining border areas, the workers associated with the Vishva Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal voiced opposition. They submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister through the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, seeking immediate intervention and taking strict action against Christian missionaries. According to the organisations, Christian missionaries were active in several tribal-dominated villages, including Khetalsanda, Kham Pachauria, Ganna Centre Halwadi, Saijna, Badi Bagulia, 22 Pul, and Bhudakishni. It was asserted that economically vulnerable and unsuspecting Hindus in these areas were being specifically targeted. The organisations further asserted that inducements in the form of money were being offered to encourage conversions. They also claimed that practices such as “healing gatherings” were being conducted, where individuals were misled into believing that illnesses could be cured through supernatural means, thereby persuading them to convert to Christianity. During the submission of the memorandum, Block Minister Pradeep Thakur issued a warning that strict legal action should be taken against those involved in illegal conversions. He stated that if the administration failed to act against what was described as a conspiracy, the organisations would be compelled to intensify their protests. Khateema Tehsildar Virendra Sajwan stated that if cases were found where individuals belonging to the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes had undergone conversion, their official status could be revoked in accordance with applicable provisions.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category for this case is "Predatory Proselytisation". The sub-category for this case 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 sub-category for this case is "Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation and subtle indoctrination". The tertiary category here for this case is "Pattern of targeting Hindus". 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 the 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 proselytisation, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. This case qualified as a religiously motivated hate crime as it involved a structured effort to draw Hindus away from their faith by leveraging their economic vulnerability. The use of financial incentives as a pathway to conversion indicated that the act was not rooted in free and informed belief, but in conditional exchange. When material relief became tied to a change in religion, the individual’s faith identity was reduced to a negotiable outcome. Such conduct reflected exploitation rather than choice, where hardship was used as the entry point to alter religious identity. The method employed also revealed a deeper layer of manipulation through sustained psychological influence. Faith-based gatherings centred around promises of healing created an environment where trust, hope, and personal distress were gradually channelled towards acceptance of a different belief system, i.e., Christianity. This was not an abrupt or forceful shift, but a slow process of shaping perception, where repeated exposure weakened existing beliefs and replaced them with new ones. Such subtle indoctrination operated by building reliance and emotional connection, making resistance increasingly difficult over time. The spread of such practices across multiple vulnerable localities demonstrated a pattern that extended beyond isolated interaction. The consistent focus on economically weaker Hindu communities indicated deliberate selection, where those least equipped to resist external pressure became the primary recipients of such efforts. This pattern underscored that the conduct was targeted and sustained, rather than incidental or sporadic. Taken together, the reliance on inducement, the use of psychological conditioning, and the repeated focus on vulnerable Hindus established that the conduct was driven by disregard for the victims’ faith. The objective was not coexistence or dialogue, but the transformation of identity through exploitation and influence. In that sense, the case met the threshold of a religiously motivated hate crime, where the victim’s Hindu identity formed the core basis of both the method and intent. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incident dates based on when the victim's ordeal began, rather than when the media reported it. In this case, the report does not mention when the victim's ordeal began; therefore, the date when the report was published has been recorded as the indicative incident date for documentation purposes.
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
