Hindu villagers, including children, targeted and lured for religious conversion under the guise of curing illness
Thane, Maharashtra, India 
4 October, 2025
Case Summary
In the Chimbipada area of Bhiwandi, Thane district, Maharashtra, Hindu villagers were targeted and enticed for conversion under the guise of curing illness by three Christian missionaries, including a US national. According to reports, the missionaries conducted a prayer gathering outside the house of Manoj Kolha, one of the accused, where Hindus were targeted and brainwashed for conversion. They distributed books on Christianity to Hindu men, women, and children, and prayers were conducted. During the gathering, the missionaries told the villagers that adopting Christianity would cure their illnesses, in an effort to push them towards conversion. Based on a complaint filed by a local resident, the police took immediate action, registered a case and arrested the accused. Those arrested were identified as James Watson (58), a US national, along with Sainath Ganpati Sarpe (42), a resident of Vasai, and Manoj Kolha (35). The trio were booked under sections 299 (deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of citizens of India), 302 (uttering words etc, with a deliberate intent to wound religious feelings of any person), and other relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Foreigners Act and Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013. As of the date of writing this report, the investigation was ongoing.
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. The other 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. This case constitutes a religiously motivated hate crime, as Hindu residents in the Chimbipada area of Bhiwandi, Thane district, Maharashtra, were targeted for conversion under the guise of a Christian prayer meeting. The act of organising a gathering outside the house of one of the accused, 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 prayer gatherings. The accused told the villagers that their illnesses would be cured if they converted to Christianity. Such promises of miraculous healing are not acts of benevolence, but calculated inducements aimed at exploiting vulnerable Hindus who might have been in distress or seeking relief. By presenting conversion as a condition for physical or spiritual well-being, the accused effectively sought to manipulate and blackmail individuals into abandoning their faith. 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. The Christian perpetrators were also actively attempting to indoctrinate the Hindu victims by using Christian religious texts and literature, which were distributed to men, women and children. 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. 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. It is further important to note here that children were also given this religious literature, which means they were also targeted for conversion. Thus, some of the victims were minors, which means the element of consent and genuine change of conscience was missing ab initio. Minors, due to their young age and lack of maturity, are particularly vulnerable to manipulation and coercion. They may not have the ability to fully understand the implications of converting to another religion, and the Muslim perpetrator purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability of the victim. Since this case exemplifies the use of coercion and manipulation to achieve religious conversion, it is a blatant act of religious hate, which is why it has been documented here in the hate tracker. When evangelists and Christian missionaries concentrate their efforts on converting members of a particular religious community, in this case, Hindus, it reveals a fundamental disregard for that community and its traditions. 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 theological foundations, places strong emphasis on proselytisation, and in pursuit of conversion goals, evangelists frequently employ deceptive or coercive tactics. By disguising conversion attempts as prayer sessions and presenting inducements in the form of healing promises, the missionaries sought to induce conversion through deception. These are not random or isolated incidents, but rather premeditated efforts to undermine the Hindu faith, persuade Hindus to discard their own faith, and convert to Christianity. Such acts were deeply rooted in religious animosity towards Hindu victims, and thus, this case was added to the tracker.
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
