Hindu villagers, including women, targeted for conversion under the guise of prayer meeting by Christian missionaries in Hardoi

Case ID : 323445a | Location : Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 2 October, 2025

Case ID : 323445a

Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh, India

2 October, 2025

Hindu villagers, including women, targeted for conversion under the guise of prayer meeting by Christian missionaries in Hardoi

Predatory Proselytisation

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Pattern of targeting Hindus

Case Summary

In the Palpur Bairagi Kheda village of Hardoi district, Uttar Pradesh, Hindu villagers, including women, were targeted for conversion under the guise of a prayer meeting by Christian missionaries. According to reports, the prayer meeting was organised by members of the Christian community inside a house, where Hindu villagers were encouraged to convert to Christianity. More than 50 women were present at the prayer meeting. When Bajrang Dal officials and workers, a Hindu organisation, received information about the meeting, they immediately informed the police and arrived at the scene. They listened to the religious discourse and stated that attempts were made to convert Hindus, while also protesting against the conversion activities. The police reached the location, brought the situation under control, and apprehended seven individuals, while one youth managed to escape. It was revealed that the prayer meeting was organised by a Christian man named Naurang, a resident of Palpur Bairagi Kheda, with Madhuresh from Goswa and his team. The detainees were taken to the police station for questioning, and further legal action was being taken.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category - Predatory proselytisation. Within it, the sub-category selected is - Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination, with the tertiary category being - 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 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 proselytization, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. This case constitutes a religiously motivated hate crime, as Hindu residents in Palpur Bairagi Kheda village of Hardoi district, Uttar Pradesh, were targeted for conversion under the guise of a Christian prayer meeting. The act of inviting Hindus to a prayer gathering, while simultaneously conducting conversion activities, demonstrates that these meetings were not genuine religious sessions or community prayers. Instead, they were calculated efforts to exploit the trust and social cohesion within the Hindu community by disguising conversion attempts as routine gatherings. Furthermore, the organisers deliberately conducted conversion activities inside a house to avoid drawing attention, indicating a deliberate and deceptive strategy to manipulate Hindus and encourage them to abandon their faith. Vulnerable Hindus were targeted, exploiting their emotional, social, or religious sensitivities, which reflects malicious intent rooted in animosity towards Hinduism. When evangelists and Christian missionaries focus their efforts on converting individuals of a particular faith, in this instance, Hindus, it reveals a fundamental disregard for that community and its beliefs. Conversion, especially when not based on sincere personal conviction but rather on external persuasion or pressure, is not about sharing a different religion. Instead, it is an attempt to undermine the values, traditions, and identity of the Hindu community. The Christian faith, by its very theological foundations, places a strong emphasis on proselytisation. In pursuit of conversion objectives, Christian evangelists often employ deceptive or unethical means to achieve their objectives. By disguising conversion attempts as prayer sessions, the organisers aimed to bypass resistance and draw unsuspecting Hindus into their network. In such cases, Christian missionary groups targeted and attempted to brainwash socially and economically vulnerable Hindus to further their agenda of religious conversions. These were not random or isolated incidents, but rather premeditated efforts to undermine the Hindu faith, persuade Hindus to discard their own religion, and convert to Christianity. Such acts are deeply rooted in religious animosity towards Hindu victims and their faith. Therefore, this case has been added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker.