Hindus targeted for conversion through inducements and prayer-meetings in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh
Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
1 July, 2024
Case Summary
In Ramkheda village of Shahjahanpur, Hindus were converted to Christianity by missionaries under the guise of organising prayer meetings. The accused offered inducements to convert to Christianity. District Vice President of Hindu Raksha Dal, Manish, said he had been receiving constant complaints from villagers that people in nearby areas were converting Hindus to Christianity in the name of prayer meetings, luring them with promises of financial help. As a result, half of the villagers had adopted Christianity. Upon reaching the spot, Hindu Raksha Dal members caught three individuals in the act of conversion. The Hindu Raksha Dal registered a case against three Christians, including a woman, at Shahjahanpur police station. Police arrested three Christians and recovered religious books and worship material from them. All three accused were residents of Hardoi district. During interrogation, they stated that they had only conducted a prayer meeting in the village and were not involved in conversions. According to the Hindu Raksha Dal District President, after conversion, villagers removed the temples from their homes, built a church, and began pressuring more Hindus to convert. The organisation reported that the poor financial condition of the villagers was exploited, with conversion carried out under the mask of financial assistance.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. The sub-category relevant 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. The other relevant sub-category is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination, and the tertiary category selected is- 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. This case qualifies as a hate crime because the accused targeted economically vulnerable Hindus in Ramkheda village, exploiting their poverty to lure them into adopting Christianity by offering inducements. Such inducement directly attacks the victims’ religious identity, as the economic vulnerability was deliberately used to persuade them to abandon their ancestral faith. The objective was not charity but the systematic disenfranchisement of Hindus from their faith. Exploiting material deprivation to secure religious conversion is a widely recognised form of exploitation and a core marker of religiously motivated hate crime. The conversions were carried out under the guise of harmless “prayer meetings,” creating an appearance of legitimacy and trust. Villagers were repeatedly engaged through these gatherings, which allowed the perpetrators to gradually instil disaffection towards Hinduism and acceptance of Christian beliefs. This slow and sustained exposure to the rival faith’s doctrine is a classic method of religious brainwashing—manipulating the social and emotional trust of attendees to weaken their attachment to their native faith. Hence, this case is added to the hate crime database. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that the report does not specify the exact date when the conversion activity began. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the incident was reported in the media.
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
