Christian evangelist accused of luring 90 Hindus for unlawful conversion to Christianity by offering them monetary and other benefits
Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
14 April, 2022
Case Summary
A man accused of enticing ninety Hindus to convert to Christianity by offering them financial and other benefits was denied anticipatory bail by the Allahabad High Court. In this instance, the FIR was filed by Himanshu Dixit, who claimed that on April 15, 2022, approximately ninety Hindus convened at the Evangelical Church of India, Hariharganj, Fatehpur, intending to convert to Christianity. After learning of this, officials went to the location. They questioned the pastor, Vijay Massiah, who revealed that the conversion process had been ongoing for the previous 34 days and was expected to be finished in 40. The government investigators discovered that 20 unidentified individuals and 35 individuals listed in the FIR had participated in this conversion program. According to witnesses, the accused lured the Hindus to convert to Christianity saying that they would be given free medical assistance for the rest of his life and his children would be given jobs and money.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This particular case has been classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under Predatory Proselytisation because of the distinct components that demonstrate the perpetrator's bias against the Hindu faith and their deliberate attempt to alienate the victims from their Hindu identity. Because of the case's specifics, we have put this case under the prime category: Predatory Proselytization and to narrow down the search further we have chosen the subcategory 'conversion by inducement' under the core category. 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 specific case, it is evident from the details that all the Hindu victims belonged to the economically weaker section of the society. The pastor converted them by offering them inducements through money, jobs and free medical assistance. Since the motivating factor of the crime was the religious identity of the victims and the intention of disenfranchising them from it, this case has been documented here.
Victim Details
Total Victim
90
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 0
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 90
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 90
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 90
Case Status
Case sub-judice
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
