Hindu residents offered inducements and pressured for religious conversion in Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh
Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India 
23 May, 2026
Case Summary
In the Bahria Ahina village of Pratapgarh district, Uttar Pradesh, Hindu residents were offered inducements and pressured for religious conversion by a man named Rajesh Kumar Saroj. According to reports, the accused, Rajesh Kumar Saroj, was taken into custody by the Mandhata police near the Bahria Mod intersection and subsequently sent to jail. The incident came to light after a resident of Bahria Ahina village lodged a complaint at Mandhata police station stating that Rajesh Kumar Saroj, along with several others from the village, had been attempting to convert local Hindu residents to another religion through preaching, inducements, and coercive pressure. Following the complaint, police registered a case under sections 3/5(1)/11 of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, and initiated a search operation to trace the accused individuals involved in the matter. Acting under the direction of Superintendent of Police Deepak Bhukar and under the supervision of Additional Superintendent of Police (East) Alok Kumar and Raniganj Circle Officer Vinay Prabhakar Sahni, a police team led by Station House Officer Arvind Kumar Singh conducted checks and raids in the area. During the operation, Sub-Inspector Arvind Kushwaha and his team apprehended Rajesh Kumar Saroj, son of Basantlal Saroj and a resident of Bahria Ahina village in the Mandhata police station area. Other police personnel involved in the arrest included Head Constable Virendra Yadav, Constable Pankaj Sahu, and Lady Constable Preeti Mishra.
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 - 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. The other sub-category selected 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. This case has been added to the tracker because Hindu residents were targeted for religious conversion through inducements, sustained preaching, and coercive pressure by Rajesh Kumar Saroj and others associated with him. The accused attempted to persuade local Hindu residents to abandon their existing faith and convert to another religion through tactics involving pressure and incentives. Such acts go beyond ordinary religious discussion or voluntary propagation of faith and fall within the ambit of coercive and manipulative proselytisation, where vulnerable individuals are specifically targeted on the basis of their religious identity. Offering inducements or incentives in exchange for conversion demonstrates that the conversion effort was not based on free spiritual conviction, but on material influence and exploitation of vulnerability. When individuals are approached with promises of benefits, assistance, or other inducements to encourage them to renounce their religion, the element of free and informed consent becomes compromised. Such methods exploit economic hardship, emotional vulnerability, social insecurity, or lack of resources, reducing religion to a transactional exchange rather than a matter of personal faith. In this case, the complaint specifically referred to the use of inducements and pressure, indicating an organised attempt to influence Hindu residents through means that undermined their independent religious choice. Furthermore, the use of pressure to compel or persuade Hindus to abandon their faith reflected hostility towards the continued practice of Hinduism by the targeted individuals. Pressuring Hindu individuals to discard their ancestral and religious identity is not a neutral act. It constitutes an intrusion upon their religious freedom, dignity, and cultural continuity. The targeting of Hindus for conversion through coercive tactics demonstrated a disregard for their right to practise and preserve their own faith without intimidation or manipulation. Such actions become especially concerning in village settings, where social pressure and organised proselytisation can create fear, division, and communal tension within local communities. Taken together, the use of inducements, coercive pressure, and targeted attempts to encourage Hindu residents to renounce their faith pointed towards a pattern of religiously motivated targeting. The incident has therefore been included in the tracker as a case involving coercive proselytisation and hostility towards Hindu religious identity, where attempts were made to alter the religious character of vulnerable individuals through pressure-based and inducement-driven conversion tactics. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when an event occurred or when the victim's ordeal began. It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case has specified the exact date when the conversion activities began. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the incident was reported in the media, 24 May 2026. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker acknowledges that the complaint and police report referred to multiple individuals being involved in the religious conversion activities. However, only one accused, Rajesh Kumar Saroj, was explicitly identified by full name in the available source reports. Accordingly, the perpetrator count for this case has been recorded as 1 until the identities of the other accused individuals are publicly disclosed or officially confirmed.
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Others
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
