Hindus lured to convert with healing rituals, money, jobs; mass Christian conversion racket busted
Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India 
22 September, 2024
Case Summary
On September 23, 2024, a group of five individuals, including Modinagar church priest Gerald Mathews Masseya, was arrested in Sewa Nagar, Ghaziabad, for orchestrating mass conversions of Hindus to Christianity. Police raided the house of Ravi Kumar, who was arrested with Ashish Masih (33), Rohan, and Deepak. The accused lured people with promises of jobs, financial aid, medical healing, education for their children, and even assistance in marriage. The group also exploited fears of "evil spirits" or "jinns" to attract participants to their gatherings, known as "Changai Sabhas" (healing sessions). The arrests followed a raid on Ravi Kumar’s house after activists from Dharma Jagran Samanvay (DJS) informed Nandgram police about ongoing conversion activities. Ravi Kumar, a government employee who converted to Christianity two years prior, hosted these meetings in his home in exchange for money. Literature and materials encouraging religious conversion were found during the raid. The accused were charged under IPC sections for deliberate religious outrage and the Uttar Pradesh Unlawful Conversion of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2024. Locals recounted their experiences of intimidation and harassment. Kajal, the wife of Ravi’s brother, revealed that Ravi’s gatherings often caused confrontations. She described how large groups of outsiders would participate in loud exorcism rituals, claiming to be "possessed by Jinns." Fearing for her safety, Kajal often locked herself indoors. She also said that Ravi and his wife harassed her when her husband was away, including a violent incident during her pregnancy that nearly caused a miscarriage. Journalist Swati Goel Sharma conducted a ground investigation and reported that Ravi’s conversion began when he sought help for supposed possession by evil spirits. Influenced by his sister, who had already begun attending the gatherings, Ravi joined the sessions and was made to believe he was freed of spirits. Subsequently, he became a host for these meetings, led by priest Gerald Masseya. Sharma's investigation revealed broader community tensions. Some families in Sewa Nagar claimed to remain Hindu officially but had converted to Christianity, displaying signs like “Jesus saves you” on their homes. Last year, locals protested against the construction of a church intended for newly converted Christians from nearby areas. The protest successfully halted the project, and the site has since been sealed. BJP councillor Jai Kishen Pal stated that locals had alerted him to the conversion activities, prompting police action. Police are now investigating the group’s involvement in similar activities in Delhi, Hapur, and other parts of Ghaziabad, with allegations that hundreds of people had been converted under false pretences.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the primary category 'Predatory Proselytisation' under the sub-category '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. The second sub-category relevant here is- Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion. Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, including threats and coercion. Harassment and threats, in this case, find their root on discriminatory grounds which has the effect of nullifying a person’s rights or infringing upon his freedom to exercise his right specifically owing to the victim’s religious identity. Verbal and physical threats and psychological or physical harassment are often used against Hindu victims because they choose to practice their professed religion. Religious harassment also includes forced and involuntary conversions by harassment, threats or coercion. Coercion includes intimidatory tactics like force-feeding a Hindu victim beef to convert to another religion, forceful circumcision etc. In several cases documented, non-Hindu perpetrators or those who harbour specific animosity towards Hinduism, harass victims simply based on their religious identity. Such cases often also include harassment to ensure the Hindu victim abandons his/her professed religion and adopts the religion of the perpetrator. In this subcategory, we would only include cases where the victim was harassed, threatened or coerced to convert. Cases where attempts were made to convert but the victim resisted would be documented in another sub-category. Such cases where Hindu victims are harassed to convert to the perpetrator’s religion are rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. The third sub-category relevant here is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination under which the tertiary category named- Pattern of targeting Hindus, has been selected. 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 Christian extremists were giving the Hindus money, promises of jobs and healing to manipulate them into conversion. When poor individuals are offered such inducements to disenfranchise them from their professed faith, the extremists essentially prey on their vulnerabilities to affect conversion. Further, the use of fear-based tactics, such as claims of "jinn possession," and the harassment reported by Ravi Kumar’s family members, particularly Kajal, indicate coercion and intimidation as part of the conversion effort. Moreover, allegations of the Christian evangelist group's involvement in similar activities in Delhi, Hapur, and Ghaziabad, with reports of hundreds of individuals converted under false pretences, point to an organized effort aimed at Hindus specifically. The group's actions, as revealed through the police investigation and community accounts, showcase a targeted focus on exploiting the Hindu community's vulnerabilities for conversion. For all the above reasons, this case has been documented as a religiously motivated hate crime and added to the tracker..
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 5 to 10
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
