Minor Hindu boy converted by Christian mother without knowledge of Hindu father in Madhya Pradesh

Case ID : 8da14ef | Location : Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Mon, 24 September, 2018

Case ID : 8da14ef

Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India

24 September, 2018

Minor Hindu boy converted by Christian mother without knowledge of Hindu father in Madhya Pradesh

Predatory Proselytisation

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Conversion of minor

Case Summary

Rajesh Meena, a resident of Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, stated that his wife and her family had converted their eight-year-old son, Ivan, to Christianity without informing him. Rajesh had expressed his desire to raise his son in accordance with Hindu traditions, but his wife and her family had secretly taken this major step. The matter came to public attention when Rajesh had acquired documents from Ivan’s school, which indicated "Christian" in the religion section. Stunned by the discovery, Rajesh had promptly filed a complaint at the police station alongside members of Hindu organisations. Rajesh and Elsi Annie, a Christian woman, fell in love but couldn't marry due to religious differences. Elsi threatened Rajesh that if he didn't marry her, she would commit suicide, so under emotional pressure, Rajesh wed Elsi in 2011. He never forced the accused to convert but emphasised that their child would be raised a Hindu. After several years of marriage, conflicts had arisen, leading them to live separately and file for divorce following the birth of their son Ivan in 2018. The mother gave birth to the child at her parents' house and never returned to her husband, separating Rajesh from his son. Recently, when Rajesh had collected certificates and other documents from his son’s school, he had uncovered the conversion. He had stated, “I was completely unaware of my son’s religious conversion. My wish was always for my son to be raised in Hindu traditions. This was an injustice to my rights and my child’s identity.” The Hindu Dharma Sena stated that this was a case of coerced conversion of a minor and had called for a thorough investigation. They had also stated that St. Peter and Paul Church was involved in the conversion and such activities were prevalent in the city, yet the authorities had ignored them. While chanting the Hanuman Chalisa outside a temple, they had demanded stringent action against those responsible. Tehsildar Mausami Kewat had arrived at the protest site, engaged with the demonstrators, and promised an impartial inquiry. The police had logged the complaint and begun their investigation. An official from the Hindu Dharma Sena had remarked that the incident was not merely a family issue but a societal warning. They had pressed the administration to take firm action against those responsible. At the time, the incident had sparked widespread anger in the area.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation, or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary categories selected are- Conversion of minor and Family claims grooming. 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 the 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 proselytisation, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. Indian law allows the parents to decide the religion of the child with either mutual consent or a single parent/guardian can take that decision after the child's custody has been established by the court. In this case, neither the guardianship was established nor was the father contacted for his consent before determining the religion of the child. Hence, this is a case of predatory proselytisation of a minor by his Christian mother, originating from her disdain for Hinduism. In this case, the accused showed hatred for Hinduism from the beginning of the relationship. When the couple faced resistance due to religious differences, the woman threatened the victim and got married through emotional manipulation. She hoped that the same manipulation would continue to work. After marriage, she maintained her Christian identity and started fighting with her Hindu husband over the religious identity of their yet-to-be-born child. This fact reflects that the Christian woman had clear disdain for Hinduism and never even considered associating with her husband's religion. As soon as the accused got pregnant, she went to her parents' house and never returned, depriving the Hindu man of his right to parenthood. The woman's actions establish the fact that she was driven by her hatred towards the Hindu identity of her husband, which culminated in the conversion of their minor son into Christianity, which is why this case has been added to the tracker. It is also important to mention that since the victim, in this case, is a minor, there was an absence of both consent and a genuine change of conscience. It is a well-established fact that children are more susceptible to manipulation since they are still developing emotionally, cognitively, and socially. Their brains are not fully mature, making them more vulnerable to influence and less capable of critically evaluating information. Consequently, cases involving religious manipulation of minors not only represent an infringement on an individual's religious freedom but also demonstrate a calculated strategy of targeting those who are less able to resist or understand the long-term implications of conversion, making it a significant case of religious-motivated hate crime. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when an event occurred or when the victim's ordeal began. It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case has specified the exact date when the victim was converted. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the woman conceived and left her husband 7 years ago in the year 2018 (calculating 7 years from the date of this report to get the date and month).