Christian missionary attempts forceful conversions of villagers by abusing Hindu deities, offering them money, education and healthcare
Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India 
23 March, 2023
Case Summary
On 23rd March 2023, a 23-year-old Christian missionary named Rahul Bargunda was arrested from the Khudel area near Indore for attempting forceful conversions of more than 24 people living near the Kampel Chowki area. The arrested accused abused Hindu deities and lured the villagers with money and facilities for education and healthcare. A case was registered against accused Rahul Bargunda of village Selani, for converting and threatening.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This particular case has been classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under three subcategories of Predatory Proselytisation because of the various distinct components that demonstrate the perpetrator's bias against the Hindu faith and his deliberate attempt to alienate the victim from his Hindu identity. The first sub-category under 'Predatory Proselytisation' relevant in this case is attempting 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. In this case, the accused tried to lure the Hindu villagers, who presumably belonged to an economically backward class, by offering them financial aid, healthcare and education. Such people, for whom arranging two square meals daily is also a major challenge, usually get lured by such juicy inducements and agree to give up their faith. Since exploiting vulnerabilities for the explicit purpose of conversion is purely based on animosity towards the victim's faith, this case has been categorised as a religiously motivated hate crime. The second sub-category under 'Predatory Proselytisation' relevant in this case is 'Attempting to convert/converting by denigrating Hinduism.' In several cases, Hindus are converted or an attempt is made to convert Hindus by denigrating their faith, Hinduism. In such cases, the Hindus associate with the non-Hindu perpetrators often by choice and then, the attempt to convert them by insulting their faith, showing the faith down etc begins. An example of this would be a non-Hindu gathering where the Hindus are attending the gathering of their own free will. However, once they attend the gathering, there is an explicit attempt to convert them by abusing their faith and hailing the faith of the perpetrator. The denigration of the Hindu faith is often based on misrepresentation of the Hindu faith, its doctrine and scriptures and insult to espoused traditions if not blatant lies about Hindu beliefs and ways. Such conversions or attempts at conversions are driven by animosity towards the Hindu faith and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. Here, the Christian missionary made derogatory remarks about Hinduism, which itself stems from the animosity against the Hindu faith. This is why this case qualifies as a hate crime against Hindus and has been documented here. The third sub-category under Predatory Proselytisation 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 have 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 and forceful circumcision. 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 in an attempt to make the Hindu victim abandon his/her professed religion and adopt the religion of the perpetrator. In this sub-category, we would include cases where the non-Hindu perpetrator harassed, threatened or coerced the victim to convert, however, the Hindu victim did not convert to another faith. Cases where the victim was converted owing to the harassment and threats 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 details of this case reveal that the Muslim perpetrator, to alienate the Hindu victim from his professed faith, issued threats to the villagers. In such cases, usually because of the fear of harm, the victim usually accedes to the demands of conversion, which was clearly the aim of the perpetrator. Since the motivating factor of the crime was the religious identity of the victims and the intention of disenfranchising them from it, the case has been included under this sub-category as well.
Victim Details
Total Victim
24
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 0
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 24
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 24
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 24
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
