Hindu students accuse professor of favouring Muslim students and trying to convert them to Islam

Case Summary
In the Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, Hindu students have accused a professor of promoting and favouring students belonging to the Muslim community. According to reports, the students alleged that the professor was attempting to influence them toward conversion. The situation escalated into a heated argument between the professor and the students. The students have since lodged a formal complaint regarding the matter. However, there has been no official confirmation yet of any action taken against the professor. The incident has raised concerns about religious neutrality within educational institutions.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the prime category of- Predatory proselytisation. Under this, the sub-category chosen 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 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. In this case, the accused, a teacher in a position of trust, demonstrated a clear animosity towards Hinduism by trying to brainwash or coerce Hindu students to adopt Islam. Since the underlying offence is against students of a specific faith and involves indoctrination and brainwashing, this case is being categorised as a hate crime.

Case Status
Complaint filed

Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male