Innocent Hindu villagers brainwashed for religious conversion under guise of prayer meeting by Christian missionaries in Dehri, Bihar
Dehri, Bihar, India 
10 May, 2026
Case Summary
In Dehri district of Bihar, members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal stated that innocent and vulnerable Hindus were being lured and misled into religious conversion through inducements. They opposed the operation of Christian religious missionaries run from a private house and demanded its immediate closure. Following the information received, police from Dehri Nagar police station reached the spot, appealed for calm between both sides, and began investigating the matter after removing more than five dozen women, men, and children present inside the premises. According to local residents, the Christian missionaries had been operating for nearly one year from a private residence in the New Area locality. They stated that every Sunday, religious preachers arriving from different places conducted gatherings where dozens of people were being persuaded and influenced towards conversion through inducements and misleading practices. Local residents stated they had become increasingly disturbed by the ongoing activities and had repeatedly requested that the organisers stop such operations. Despite these objections, the gatherings continued, and the number of attendees steadily increased. Concerned by the growing scale of the activities, local residents approached the Vishva Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal with complaints. Following the complaints, VHP district minister Yash Upadhyay, Bajrang Dal city convenor Amar Sinha, and several activists reached the location and informed Dehri Nagar police station about the alleged conversion activities. Yash Upadhyay stated that Dehri would not be allowed to become a hub for religious conversion and said that if innocent people were being lured away from their religion and culture in the name of prayer, the organisations would continue to oppose such activities through democratic means. He further demanded a fair investigation and action against those found responsible. Dehri Nagar police station in-charge Rahul Kumar stated that a detailed investigation into the matter was underway.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of Predatory Proselytisation. Within it, the sub-category selected is - Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or 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 perpetrator's contrasting faith. 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 proselytisation, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. The other sub-category selected - 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. This case has been added to the tracker because Hindus in Dehri, Bihar, were targeted through organised prayer gatherings where inducements, emotional influence and misleading religious teachings were used to draw them away from their native faith, Hinduism, towards Christianity. Firstly, the manner in which these activities were conducted for nearly a year showed a sustained and deliberate attempt to influence and destabilise local Hindus. What appeared outwardly as routine prayer meetings operated in practice as organised religious outreach programmes where repeated gatherings and continuous interaction gradually shaped beliefs and weakened attachment to Hindu traditions. The regular Sunday meetings and the increasing number of attendees demonstrated that this was not an isolated religious activity but a structured process aimed at normalising conversion within the locality. Secondly, inducements and misleading practices formed a central part of this effort. Local residents stated that innocent and vulnerable people were being lured and influenced in the name of prayer and spiritual guidance. When religious influence is combined with emotional dependency, promises of relief, or manipulative persuasion, genuine freedom of belief becomes compromised. Such methods are especially effective against socially and economically vulnerable Hindus who may be seeking emotional support, stability, or assistance during difficult circumstances. Such patterns have been observed in several cases where vulnerable Hindus were systematically targeted through sustained emotional engagement and psychological influence disguised as spiritual support. Repeated exposure to prayer sessions, sermons, and religious conditioning gradually weakens personal agency and creates an environment where conversion is presented as the only path towards hope, relief, or acceptance. This transforms faith from a matter of personal conviction into the outcome of sustained pressure and manipulation. Thirdly, the covert manner in which these gatherings operated from inside a private residence reflected a calculated attempt to continue conversion-related activities without attracting wider public scrutiny. The lack of transparency regarding the true nature and purpose of the meetings allowed organised religious influence to continue quietly within the residential locality while avoiding open accountability. Such hidden and sustained efforts directly affected the religious identity and cultural stability of Hindus living in the area. Taken together, the use of inducements, sustained religious conditioning, emotional influence, and covert conversion activities established that this case was not about private religious expression but about organised efforts directed at altering the religious identity of Hindus through pressure and manipulation. The conduct specifically targeted Hindus because of their religion. Such predatory conversion efforts stem from Abrahamic doctrines like Christianity that view non-believers as incomplete until they convert, fostering attitudes that frequently manifest in organised targeting of vulnerable Hindus for religious conversion. Therefore, this case has been added to the Hinduphobia Tracker’s hate crime database. 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 did not specify when the conversion-related activities first began. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date as 11 May 2026, when the incident was reported in the media.
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
