Hindu man pressured to convert his religion

Case ID : 5954987 | Location : Mandla, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 2 October, 2024
Case ID : 5954987
location Mandla, Madhya Pradesh, India
date 2 October, 2024
Hindu man pressured to convert his religion
Predatory Proselytisation
Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion
Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement

Case Summary

A Hindu man named Mukesh Nanda filed a complaint at the Mohgaon police station in Mandla against four people for pressuring him to convert to Christianity. He said that about one and a half years ago when he and his wife were unwell, some people came and pressured him to change his religion. That time he succumbed to the pressure and converted. However, a few days later when his wife died, he returned to Hinduism. Now, those people were continuously pressuring him to change his religion. Based on his complaint, the police registered a case under the Religious Freedom Act and began investigating the matter.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the database as a religiously motivated hate crime under the category- Predatory Proselytisation. Under this, the first sub-category chosen 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. The second sub-category under which this case has been placed 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. In this instance, the perpetrators initially exploited the vulnerable state of Mukesh Nanda and his wife, who were unwell at the time, to convince him to convert to Christianity. Using their medical condition as a pretext, they pressured him into changing his religion. However, following the passing of his wife shortly after the conversion, Mukesh chose to return to Hinduism. Despite his decision, the accused did not relent and began harassing him persistently to convert again. This pattern of manipulation followed by coercion underscores the exploitative tactics used to pressure individuals into abandoning their faith. Since the crime was driven by the victim's religious identity, with the accused repeatedly harassing and pressuring him to abandon his faith and adopt an alien faith, this reflects a clear disdain for Hinduism. Therefore, the case has been documented in the database for its religiously motivated nature.

Victim Details

Total Victim

1

Deceased

0


Gender

  • Male 1
  • Female 0
  • Third Gender 0
  • Unknown 0

Caste

  • SC/ST 0
  • OBC 0
  • General 1
  • Unknown 0

Age Group

  • Minor 0
  • Adult 1
  • Senior Citizen 0
  • Unknown 0
Case Status Background
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Case Status


Complaint filed

Case Status Background
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Perpetrators Details

Perpetrators


Unknown

Perpetrators Range


Unknown

Perpetrators Gender


unknown

Case Details SVG
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