50 Hindu women targeted for forced Christian conversion through inducements and manipulation in Sant Kabir Nagar, Uttar Pradesh
Sant Kabir Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, India 
12 September, 2026
Case Summary
In the Nedula locality of Khalilabad city in Sant Kabir Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh, 50 Hindu women were targeted for religious conversion through a prayer meeting conducted by Christian missionaries. The meeting was held in a house where a Christian man pressured the victims to convert under the pretext of occult practices and through inducements. According to media reports, the matter came to the attention of the police on Sunday evening, 13 September 2026, when Saurabh Jaiswal, former district vice-president of the Vishwa Hindu Mahasangh and a resident of Bardahiya Bazar, informed the Kotwali police about the gathering. He told the police that more than 50 women had assembled in the hall and that a man was conducting a prayer meeting while using supposed occult practices and inducements to facilitate religious conversion. Following the information, Naveen Mandi Chowki In-charge Ashwani Tiwari and Gola Bazar Chowki In-charge Lal Bihari Nishad reached the location with police personnel. A Police Response Vehicle 112 team also arrived at the premises. Police detained three individuals, including the Christian man conducting the prayer meeting, his wife and another person, and took them to the Kotwali police station for questioning. During the police action, Bibles, diaries, residence certificates, missionary training certificates, multiple identity cards and several mobile numbers were recovered from the premises. The religious material, missionary training certificates and other documents were taken into consideration as part of the investigation into the conversion activity. After the detainees were brought to the police station, Khalilabad Sub-Divisional Magistrate Hridayram Tripathi, Circle Officer Priyam Rajshekhar Pandey, Naib Tehsildar Yashbrat Singh and Kotwal Jai Prakash Dubey reached the Kotwali and questioned them. During the initial interrogation, the detained couple stated that they were originally from the Ghosi area of Mau district and had been residing in the Nedula locality of Khalilabad since 2019. Police subsequently examined the recovered documents, missionary material, identity cards and mobile numbers, along with the circumstances surrounding the gathering and the activities conducted there. The authorities stated that further action would be taken based on the findings of the investigation.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category selected for this case is: Predatory proselytisation. The subcategory selected for this case is: Conversion/attempts to convert by inducement. Predatory Proselytisation is not 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 for this case 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 contrasting faith of the perpetrator. While subtle indoctrination is widely acknowledged as predatory, an element which is often understated in such conversions or in the attempts at 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 is a clear example of a religiously driven hate crime because 50 Hindu women were targeted for forced Christian conversion through inducements, supposed occult practices and manipulation by Christian missionaries. The selective targeting of Hindu women for conversion demonstrates that this was a targeted effort against members of the Hindu community, with the objective of severing their existing religious identity and bringing them forcibly into the Christian fold. Conversion, when it is not pursued out of a person’s free and voluntary religious conviction but is instead facilitated through external persuasion, inducements or manipulation, amounts to an act of religious coercion. Such conduct violates the victims’ religious autonomy and their fundamental right to freely practise and retain their Hindu faith. The use of inducements further demonstrates the coercive nature of the conversion effort. Offering material, personal or other benefits in exchange for abandoning one’s existing faith exploits the victims’ socio-economic and personal vulnerabilities instead of appealing to genuine religious conviction. By specifically using such inducements to convert Hindu women to Christianity, the perpetrators treated the victims’ Hindu identity as something to be discarded in return for external benefits. This weaponisation of vulnerability to secure religious conversion demonstrated contempt for the victims’ right to retain their Hindu faith and revealed a predatory intent to undermine Hindu religious identity through coercive means rather than voluntary belief. The use of supposed occult practices alongside religious instruction from Christian scriptures such as the Bible further demonstrated the manipulation involved in the conversion process. Presenting religious conversion through superstition, occult practices and repeated exposure to religious teachings creates an environment in which victims are psychologically influenced and brainwashed towards abandoning their existing faith. The use of such manipulation tactics indicates that the conversions were not based on free and informed religious choice, but on methods designed to influence and reshape the victims’ beliefs. This predatory approach reflected deep-seated disdain towards Hinduism and the Hindu community, treating Hindu religious identity as something to be weakened and ultimately replaced. The recovery of multiple Bibles, religious materials, Christian missionary training certificates and other missionary-related documents from the premises further established that the activity was not a random or isolated religious gathering. The presence of such material indicated a structured and concerted effort to facilitate the conversion of members of the Hindu community to Christianity. The missionary training material, in particular, pointed to preparation for organised religious outreach and conversion activities, demonstrating that the gathering formed part of a broader and deliberate effort rather than being an incidental interaction between individuals. Such instances of predatory proselytisation are rooted in doctrinal hostility towards Hinduism and its adherents, where manipulation, inducements and organised religious outreach are used to weaken Hindu religious identity and facilitate conversion to Christianity. Therefore, the case is added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker.
Victim Details
Total Victim
50
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 50
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 50
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 50
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
