Hindu tribal community pressured to abandon faith during Christian prayer gathering in Udaipur; threatened with death for rejecting demand to convert
Udaipur, Rajasthan, India 
7 June, 2026
Case Summary
A Hindu tribal community in Udaipur district, Rajasthan, was targeted through a large-scale conversion programme that sought to persuade vulnerable Hindu families to abandon their faith and adopt Christianity. The activity had continued for several days and drew hundreds of people from multiple villages. The programme came to light after a Hindu tribal man refused to convert and approached the authorities. What emerged was a coordinated effort involving prayer meetings, inducements, and sustained attempts to influence Hindu tribal families. On 7th June 2026, information surfaced about a religious gathering held in Kanuwada Bilkhai village, under the Rishabhdeo police station area in Udaipur district. The programme had been running for two days under the leadership of local organiser Babulal. People from more than 20 surrounding villages had been invited to attend the gathering. The attendees were predominantly members of the tribal Hindu community, many of whom came from economically vulnerable backgrounds. During the gathering, Hindu tribal families were encouraged to leave Hinduism and adopt Christianity. The programme was presented as a prayer meeting, but participants were told that abandoning Hinduism would bring significant personal benefits. Priests and organisers informed those present that illnesses would be cured if they accepted Christianity. They also promised financial assistance and material support to families willing to abandon their Hindu faith. The inducements extended beyond general assurances. Hindu tribal families were told that wells and tube wells would be dug in their fields and that various forms of economic assistance would be provided. These promises were directed at families facing financial hardship. The gathering, therefore, focused specifically on attracting economically vulnerable Hindu tribal households through offers of material benefits and improved living conditions. Among those invited to the programme was Hindu tribal resident Nanalal. He attended the gathering along with members of his family after being approached by organisers. During the event, he and his family were urged to renounce Hinduism and embrace Christianity. He was informed that doing so would cure illnesses, improve financial circumstances, and bring broader benefits to his household. Nanalal refused to abandon his Hindu faith. Following his refusal, he faced threats from individuals associated with the programme. He stated that he was threatened with death after rejecting the demand to convert. The intimidation continued on the following morning when local organisers again pressured him to accept Christianity. Despite the threats, he maintained his refusal and decided to take action against those conducting the programme. As the programme continued, organisers were preparing to bring additional Hindu tribal families into the conversion drive. Information gathered during the incident indicated that approximately 200 local families were being targeted and that further conversion activities were expected to continue over the following days. The gathering also included some individuals who had previously left Hinduism. After refusing to convert, Nanalal approached the authorities and submitted a complaint regarding the activities taking place in the village. Acting on the information received, police conducted a raid at the location at around 11 a.m. More than 200 people were present at the site when officials arrived. Eleven individuals were detained in connection with the programme, including Christian pastors from Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, as well as local organisers from Udaipur district. Police stated that the gathering had been operating for two days and that people from numerous villages had been brought to the event. A similar prayer meeting was also scheduled to take place in Phalasia in the coming days. Following the raid, those detained were questioned and the matter remained under investigation.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. Within this, the subcategory selected is - Conversion/attempts to convert by inducements. 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 for this case is - Harassments, 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 included in the tracker because it involved a systematic effort to persuade vulnerable Hindu tribal families to abandon their ancestral faith and embrace Christianity through inducements, sustained religious messaging, and coercive pressure. The targeting was not random. The programme was directed specifically at Hindu tribal communities, with the objective of reducing adherence to Hindu traditions and replacing them with a different religious identity. The use of monetary and medical inducements demonstrates a clear religious motive behind the conversion effort. Participants were told that abandoning Hinduism would cure illnesses, improve their financial condition, and bring material benefits into their lives. They were also offered assistance, including wells, tube wells, and other forms of economic support. These promises were directed at economically vulnerable Hindu tribal families who were more likely to be struggling with poverty, lack of access to healthcare, and financial insecurity. Such conduct went beyond the expression of religious beliefs and instead sought to exploit hardship as a tool for religious conversion. The inducements were not being offered to improve the welfare of the community, irrespective of faith; they were specifically linked to the abandonment of Hinduism and acceptance of Christianity. This demonstrates a deliberate attempt to leverage economic distress and concerns about illness in order to weaken attachment to the Hindu faith and secure religious conversion. The use of financial incentives to encourage Christian conversion clearly demonstrates that these actions were not motivated by charity alone but were tied to a religious objective. By offering benefits only in conjunction with conversion, the organisers created pressure on vulnerable Hindus to choose between retaining their faith and obtaining promised assistance. Such methods exploit desperation and dependency rather than encouraging genuine spiritual conviction. This pattern has repeatedly emerged in cases involving missionary activity directed at poor and marginalised Hindu communities, where economic vulnerability is used as a pathway to religious conversion. The targeting of Hindu tribals through promises of healing, prosperity, and material advancement, therefore, reflects a calculated effort to undermine Hindu religious identity and replace it with adherence to Christianity. The religious hostility became even more apparent when resistance to conversion was met with threats and intimidation. One Hindu tribal victim refused to abandon his faith despite repeated pressure to do so. Instead of respecting his decision, individuals associated with the conversion programme threatened him with death and continued intimidating him after he maintained his commitment to Hinduism. The threats were directly linked to his refusal to leave his religion and accept Christianity. This demonstrates that the hostility was not personal in nature but arose from the victim's determination to remain Hindu. The coercion, therefore, served as a mechanism to punish religious non-compliance and compel the abandonment of Hindu beliefs. When threats of violence are used against individuals solely because they refuse to renounce their faith, the religiously motivated nature of the conduct becomes unmistakable. The scale of the operation further highlights a broader pattern of organised proselytisation directed at Hindus. More than 200 people from over 20 villages were brought into the programme, and approximately 200 families were being targeted for conversion. The large number of individuals involved demonstrates that this was not an isolated interaction with a few willing participants but a coordinated effort focused on a specific religious community. The organisers concentrated their efforts on Hindu tribal populations because such communities often face economic and social disadvantages that make them more susceptible to inducements and sustained persuasion. The selection of these communities reflected a deliberate strategy of identifying vulnerable Hindu populations and systematically encouraging them to abandon their ancestral faith. The scale, planning, and concentration on economically disadvantaged Hindus reveal a calculated pattern of targeting rather than spontaneous religious outreach. Taken together, the inducements linked to conversion, the promises of healing and financial gain, the threats issued against those who refused to abandon Hinduism, and the organised effort directed at hundreds of Hindu tribal families establish the religiously motivated nature of the incident. The victims were targeted because they were Hindus, and the objective was to secure their departure from Hinduism in favour of Christianity. The conduct, therefore, represents a deliberate attempt to weaken Hindu religious continuity within vulnerable tribal communities through inducement, coercion, and organised proselytisation, making it a hate crime warranting inclusion in the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: Since Babulal was specifically named and identified in available reports as an organiser of the event, the perpetrator count has been recorded as 1 for documentation purposes, while noting that multiple additional unnamed organisers, Christian pastors, and participants were also involved in conducting the conversion programme.
Case Status
Case sub-judice
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
