Hindu family lured with incentives and forcibly converted to Christianity in Chhattisgarh

Case ID : 5c2785a | Location : Kanker, Chhattisgarh, India | Date of Incident : Thu, 11 December, 2025

Case ID : 5c2785a

Kanker, Chhattisgarh, India

11 December, 2025

Hindu family lured with incentives and forcibly converted to Christianity in Chhattisgarh

Predatory Proselytisation

Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Conversion of minor

Victim says was brainwashed/groomed

Case Summary

In Ghotiyawahi village of the Kanker district, Chhattisgarh, five members of a Hindu family, including children, were lured with inducements and forcibly converted to Christianity. According to media reports, this incident came to light when the Hindu family decided to revert to Hinduism by doing Gharwapsi, a Hindu religious event where Hindus who convert to other faiths have the option to revert to their native faith, Hinduism. The forced conversion of the victim's family happened three years ago, in 2022. The family stated that they were given various temptations, like money, by Christian missionaries to convert, and that was how they converted. The family consisted of men, women, and children. Following this, the local Hindu community welcomed the Hindu family with open hearts as they reverted back to their native faith, Hinduism. The local Hindu community also stated they would carry out demonstrations and rallies against such forced Christian conversions in the area.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case is being added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory selected is- Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducements. 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 subcategory selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary categories selected are- 'Conversion of minor' and 'Victim says was brainwashed/Groomed'. 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 stands as a stark instance of anti-Hindu crime, where a vulnerable Hindu family in Ghotiyawahi village faced forcible conversion to Christianity through calculated inducements. Conversions driven not by genuine personal conviction but by external pressures, temptations, or lures cross into outright coercion, fuelling religious animosity against Hindus. Here, Christian missionaries dangled money and other enticements before the family, exploiting their economic hardships to strip away their Hindu faith by force—far from any act of kindness, this was predatory manipulation. These financial baits preyed on the genuine desperation of the poor Hindu family, arm-twisting them into abandoning their ancestral faith and beliefs under the guise of aid, turning momentary need into lifelong spiritual betrayal. Such tactics reveal a deliberate strategy to erode Hindu identity, marking this as a clear-cut anti-Hindu hate crime rooted in deep-seated animosity towards Hinduism and its adherents. Equally alarming, this outrage extended to the family's minor children, who endured forcible conversion alongside adults—a grave violation that underscores the crime's predatory depth. Minors lack the maturity or agency to consent to such profound life-altering decisions; they cannot grasp the eternal implications of forsaking their Hindu roots for a foreign faith. Here, the perpetrators ruthlessly exploited this innocence and vulnerability, imposing Christianity on impressionable young minds by use of manipulation and deceit. By targeting children too young for true conviction, the missionaries amplified the assault on Hinduism, dragging innocents into a web of coerced faith change and cementing this as a religiously motivated hate crime driven by unyielding animosity. Furthermore, the desperate pull the Hindu victims felt to reclaim their Hindu roots through Gharwapsi lays bare the damage of forced conversions—they ended up lost, alone, and torn from everything familiar. Having their Hindu faith stripped away unwillingly left them in a painful void. This showcases the reality of forced conversions, making the severity of the crime crystal clear. Additionally, it is important to note that the Christian doctrine mandates aggressive proselytisation, viewing non-believers like Hindus as unworthy of full respect until they submit to conversion, embedding doctrinal hostility towards Hinduism at its core. This belief compels Christians to pursue non-adherents relentlessly, deploying every tactic—from overt coercion and financial lures to subtle exploitation of weaknesses—to convert them to Christianity. Such dehumanisation strips Hindus of dignity, treating them as mere targets for religious conquest and conversion, making it a religiously motivated offence. Since this case meets several parameters of a religiously motivated hate crime, it is being added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the dates of incidents based on when the crime occurs rather than when it is reported by the media. However, in this particular case, media reports did not specify the exact date when the crime occurred. Therefore, for the purpose of documenting this crime, the date when the media reported it—that is, 12th December 2025—is selected as the indicative date of the incident. This is selected for documentation purposes only.