Case Summary

Four Hindu families from Takht Ka Purwa village in Hiraganj’s Ram Nagar ward, Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, became victims of deceptive proselytisation after being approached by a pastor and his followers from Lal Gopalanj. Exploiting their financial hardships and vulnerability, the pastor lured them with promises of money, healing from illness, and educational support for their children. The families of Harilal, Kullu Saroj, Nanhe Lal, and Om Prakash, struggling under severe economic distress, were persuaded to abandon their ancestral faith. Their wives — Phoolkali, Shakuntala Devi, Nirmala Devi, and Vittan Devi — were made to lead the conversion, trusting the assurances of better opportunities and divine blessings. The conversion ceremony, conducted by the pastor and his aides, involved Christian prayers and rituals meant to signify a new beginning. The families, unaware of the deceit, expressed gratitude and hope that their suffering would end through the new faith. However, the promised aid never arrived. Instead, the families faced social isolation, exploitation, and continued hardship, as their expectations of relief turned into disillusionment. Over time, they realised that the conversion had brought only alienation — not compassion, support, or dignity. Three years later, the same families chose to return to Sanatan Dharma through a Ghar Wapsi ceremony, reaffirming their spiritual and cultural roots. The reconversion took place through Vedic rituals, where they took sacred oaths on the Bhagavad Gita and the Ganga, symbolising their renewed commitment to Hindu dharma and identity.

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Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category in this case is: Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory in this case 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 has been added to the tracker because it represents a clear instance of Predatory Proselytisation targeting Hindu families in Takht Ka Purwa village, Hiraganj’s Ram Nagar ward. The conversion of the four families—Harilal, Kullu Saroj, Nanhe Lal, and Om Prakash—was not a voluntary spiritual exploration but a calculated exploitation of vulnerability. The families were facing severe financial hardship and persistent illness, circumstances that made them particularly susceptible to external inducements. The pastor and his followers from Lal Gopalanj specifically targeted these hardships, offering material incentives such as monetary aid, relief from illness, educational support for children, and promises of a better standard of living, with the explicit aim of persuading them to abandon their original Hindu faith. The exploitation of economic and social vulnerabilities forms the core of why this case is categorised as a hate crime against Hindus. The act was not merely a religious interaction or an invitation to explore Christianity; it was a systematic attempt to disenfranchise Hindu families from their religious identity. By offering material benefits conditional upon conversion, the perpetrators leveraged the families’ distress to induce a change in faith, effectively subordinating their spiritual autonomy to financial and social pressures. This manipulative strategy demonstrates a deliberate targeting of Hindus due to their religious identity, with the intent of weakening their attachment to Sanatan Dharma. Furthermore, the case exemplifies a broader pattern of religiously motivated coercion where non-Hindu actors exploit the vulnerabilities of Hindu individuals to further their own religious agenda. In such instances, the Hindu victims’ religious identity is central to the crime, distinguishing it from ordinary instances of persuasion or proselytisation. The combination of inducement, deception, and targeting of material need underscores the deliberate and systematic nature of the attack on the families’ faith, rendering it a hate-driven act. Finally, the eventual Ghar Wapsi of the families three years later highlights the coercive and deceptive nature of the original conversion. The fact that the families sought to return to Sanatan Dharma through traditional Vedic rituals demonstrates that their initial conversion was not a genuine spiritual choice but a response to manipulative pressures. This reversal underscores the predatory nature of the proselytisation, affirming the need for such cases to be documented and tracked as hate crimes against Hindus. The tracker records this incident to provide a detailed record of how economic exploitation and deceptive inducement have been used systematically to target Hindu religious identity. Disclaimer – Media reports indicate that the families’ conversion to Christianity occurred approximately three years ago from the date the incident was reported in the media, i.e., October 6, 2025, although no specific date or month has been reported. For the purpose of documentation, we have used October 6, 2022, as a notional date to mark the beginning of their ordeal. Since the Hinduphobia Tracker records cases based on when the victim’s ordeal began – rather than when the case was reported or became public – this date has been chosen to represent the start of the predatory proselytisation and the subsequent exploitation the families faced. Disclaimer: In this case, it is mentioned that members of 4 Hindu families were converted to Christianity. However, the exact number of individuals involved in the conversion is not specified. Due to this lack of clarity, we have relied on the most recent Indian census data, which indicates that the average family size in India is approximately 4.8 members per household. To ensure a standardised estimation, we have opted to consider an average of 5 members per family. Based on this approach, the estimated total number of victims in this case is calculated as 20 individuals.