Poor Hindu villagers targeted for Christian conversion under guise of medical treatment and prayer meeting in Patna, Bihar
Ambedkar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, India 
19 July, 2025
Case Summary
In Mubarakpur, Patna, poor Hindu villagers were induced to convert to Christianity at the Believers Church India by Christian pastors under the guise of medical treatment. Pastor Pramod Kumar was arrested a year back in 2025, while on 3 August 2026, police arrested pastor Nebulal and his son Anjeet Kumar, who were absconding. According to the police, the incident took place on 20 July 2025, when more than 200 men and women were called to the church on the pretext of receiving medical treatment and were made to participate in in a prayer meeting. Subsequently, a complaint regarding the incident was lodged by Arvind Pandey of the Vishva Hindu Parishad, who stated that those conducting the gathering were misleading people into abandoning their faith in Sanatan deities and encouraging them to convert to Christianity. Police reached the church and found a large number of men, women and children participating in Christian prayers. Following the complaint, an FIR was registered, and pastor Pramod Kumar was arrested and sent to jail. During the investigation, the involvement of pastor Nebulal and his son Anjeet Kumar also came to light, following which they remained absconding until their arrest. During the search of their residence in Patna Mubarakpur village, police recovered a large quantity of religious literature, membership registers, attendance registers, account books and other documents, which were seized for investigation. According to Circle Officer Nitish Kumar Tiwari, the role of both accused was established based on evidence collected during the investigation and the statements of witnesses. Police stated that the investigation into the seized documents and other evidence was continuing.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
In this case, the primary category selected is: Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory 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 subcategory 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 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 was included in the Hinduphobia Tracker because it involved a deliberate attempt to persuade poor Hindus to abandon their ancestral faith and embrace Christianity by exploiting their economic vulnerability under the guise of providing medical treatment and Christian prayers. The religious trigger lay not in the mere practice of Christianity but in the targeting of Hindus for the purpose of changing their religious identity. The effort was directed specifically at Hindu devotees and sought to replace their existing faith with another through organised religious intervention. The conduct went beyond the expression of religious belief and reflected a calculated effort to influence vulnerable Hindus through inducement and sustained religious messaging. The promise of treatment was not an act of unconditional charity but formed part of a process that exposed attendees to Christian prayers while simultaneously discouraging faith in Hindu deities. Such conduct exploited the victims' vulnerable circumstances to weaken their attachment to Hinduism and encourage acceptance of Christianity. Religion therefore remained central to the entire exercise, as the intended outcome depended upon Hindus relinquishing their own faith. Furthermore, the manner in which the programme was conducted reflected a process of gradual religious conditioning rather than an isolated interaction. Individuals were gathered in an organised setting, repeatedly exposed to Christian worship, and encouraged to lose faith in Sanatan beliefs. Such sustained exposure sought to normalise Christian doctrine while creating disaffection towards Hinduism. Rather than allowing religious choice to emerge from independent conviction, the process relied upon manipulation, trust-building and repeated religious messaging to influence the beliefs of Hindu attendees over time. The organised nature of the programme further demonstrated that the conduct was neither spontaneous nor incidental. The recovery of membership registers, attendance registers, religious literature and other records indicated a structured mechanism through which conversion activities were organised and monitored. The involvement of multiple individuals over an extended period further reflected coordinated planning aimed at reaching and influencing a large number of Hindus rather than isolated engagement with a few individuals. This revealed a clear pattern of systematically targeting members of the Hindu community for religious conversion. The surrounding circumstances demonstrated that the objective extended beyond religious propagation to the deliberate replacement of Hindu religious identity with Christianity. By selecting economically disadvantaged Hindus, exposing them to organised Christian teachings, discouraging faith in Hindu deities and maintaining a structured system to facilitate such activities, the accused displayed a conscious disregard for the religious rights of the Hindu community. Their conduct revealed a deliberate and sustained effort to diminish adherence to Hinduism by exploiting vulnerability and fostering dependence on an alternative faith. Such organised attempts to induce and condition Hindus into abandoning their religion constituted a religiously motivated act against the Hindu community, warranting inclusion in the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The details of this case state that more than 200 men and women were called to the church and were induced towards Christian conversion through the promise of medical treatment and Christian prayers. Since the exact number of victims was not specified, we conservatively recorded 200 victims in the database. It is further stated that both men and women were among those targeted; however, no gender-wise break-up was provided. Therefore, for the sake of consistency in documentation, we have evenly recorded 100 male victims and 100 female victims.
Victim Details
Total Victim
200
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 100
- Female 100
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 200
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 200
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
