Hindu villagers offered inducements and manipulated with religious texts for Christian conversion in Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh

Case ID : 30a95aa | Location : Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 7 July, 2026

Case ID : 30a95aa

Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh, India

7 July, 2026

Hindu villagers offered inducements and manipulated with religious texts for Christian conversion in Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh

Predatory Proselytisation

Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Pattern of targeting Hindus

Case Summary

In the Itwa village under the Sakaldiha police station limits in Chandauli district, Uttar Pradesh, Hindu villagers were offered inducements for religious conversion under the guise of a prayer meeting by Christian individuals. On 9 July 2026, the Uttar Pradesh Police uncovered an organised, unlawful religious conversion operation during a raid on a prayer meeting. Acting on specific information, the police raided the prayer meeting where more than 50 men and women had assembled and arrested six individuals who were conducting the event. According to the police investigation, the Christian perpetrators were using the prayer meeting as a front to persuade attendees to convert to Christianity by distributing Christian religious literature, preaching through microphones, invoking religious beliefs, and offering various inducements. An FIR was registered against all six accused under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act. The arrested accused were identified as Kamlesh Ram and Rajesh Maurya of Itwa village in Chandauli, Ajit Ram of Negura village in Dhanapur, Dheeraj Singh of Gaurhat village in Ghazipur, Guddu Ram of Nevada in Varanasi, and Dinesh Ram of Pahariya. Police recovered seven Bibles, around 200 religious pamphlets, approximately 50 Christian religious booklets, religious posters, microphones, a loudspeaker/home theatre system, mobile phones, a Maruti Suzuki Zen car, and two motorcycles from the premises. The prayer meeting was being conducted at the house of Kamlesh Ram, the brother of a district panchayat member. During interrogation, the accused stated that they regularly organised mass prayer meetings where Christian literature and promotional material were distributed to encourage people to embrace Christianity. Police also found that one of the arrested accused, Ajit Ram, had previously been arrested and jailed in connection with an unlawful religious conversion case registered at Dhina police station the previous year. Authorities stated that the wider network connected to the operation was under investigation and that further legal action would be taken based on the findings.

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 - Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary category selected 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 that is often understated in such conversions or the attempts of such conversion is the role of loyalty and trust that might develop between the perpetrator and the victim. Fiduciary relationships are often abused to affect such religious conversion. For example, an educator transmitting the 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 has been included in the Hinduphobia Tracker because the available facts demonstrate a systematic attempt to convert Hindu individuals to Christianity through inducements and organised religious gatherings rather than through the voluntary exercise of personal faith. Firstly, offering incentives or making false promises, especially when directed at vulnerable individuals in need, shows that these incentives are not acts of kindness or charity. Instead, they are calculated moves to exploit vulnerable Hindus because of religion. By providing inducements in exchange for conversion, the accused were effectively blackmailing those who might have been desperate for assistance or hope. Such instances are seen in many cases where members of Christian missionary groups target socially and economically vulnerable Hindus to further their agenda of religious conversions. This form of coercion strips people of their agency and dignity and results in coerced conversions. These are not random or isolated incidents, but rather cases deeply rooted in religious animosity towards Hindu victims. Secondly, the police recovered seven Bibles, around 200 religious pamphlets, approximately 50 Christian religious booklets and religious posters from the site. Thus, the Christian perpetrators were also actively attempting to indoctrinate the Hindu victims by using Christian religious texts and literature. Using the scriptures or literature of one faith to deliberately target and manipulate members of another, with the clear intention of religious conversion, represents a direct attack on the Hindu faith. Such actions are designed to violate and undermine the beliefs of Hindu victims and are clear indicators of religious hostility towards Hindus and their religious identity. Such actions further demonstrate that this was not an isolated incident of evangelism, but rather part of a broader, organised operation to further religious conversions. When Christian religious material is used to exploit trust, sow doubt, and misrepresent the beliefs of Hindus to coerce conversion, particularly in a systematic manner, it constitutes a religiously motivated offence. Thirdly, what was presented as a simple prayer gathering was in reality a covert attempt at religious conversion. These were not genuine community prayers but calculated efforts to exploit the trust of Hindus and manipulate them into abandoning their faith. The organisers deliberately held the meeting in secrecy and without permission from the administration, indicating a deliberate and deceptive strategy designed to avoid public attention and scrutiny. By conducting such gatherings covertly, the Christian missionaries sought to manipulate vulnerable Hindus, taking advantage of their emotional and social circumstances to push them towards conversion. The nature of the conversion efforts and the wider impact on the Hindu community all indicate a targeted action against Hindus as a collectivity. When individuals or groups focus their efforts on converting members of a particular religion, in this case, Hindus, then it demonstrates a fundamental disregard for the Hindu faith. Conversion, especially when not based on personal conviction but rather on external persuasion or pressure, is not simply about sharing a different belief system. It is an attempt to undermine the values, traditions, and identity of the Hindu community. In this context, the Christian perpetrators specifically targeted Hindus, which demonstrates a lack of respect for Hinduism and its followers. Such actions are carried out to strip Hindu victims of their faith, making it a religiously motivated crime. The Christian faith, by its very theological foundations, places a strong emphasis on proselytisation. In pursuit of conversion objectives, Christian evangelists often employ unethical means, ranging from psychological pressure and misinformation to inducements such as money or jobs. These tactics are designed not as acts of charity but as tools to engineer religious change under the guise of social upliftment, particularly among vulnerable and underprivileged communities. This systematic attempt to erode the religious foundation of individuals and replace it with allegiance to another faith reflects deep religious malice and animus against the Hindu identity. Because the core motivation of the act stems from hostility toward the victim’s religion, it meets the threshold of a hate crime. Hence, categorised as a hate crime in the database. Disclaimer: The case mentions that 50 people were present at the prayer meeting when the police raided the site. It is also stated that both men and women were among those present, though no specific gender breakdown is provided. Therefore, we have evenly divided the count, in accordance to the gender ratio reported by the census in 2011 (50:50) for the sake of consistency in documentation.