Hindu families lured with inducements and forcibly converted to Christianity in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh

Case ID : 8da1530 | Location : Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 25 October, 2025

Case ID : 8da1530

Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, India

25 October, 2025

Hindu families lured with inducements and forcibly converted to Christianity in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh

Predatory Proselytisation

Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement

Case Summary

In the Lalganj area of Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, five Hindu families were forcibly converted to Christianity by Christian evangelists. As per the victims, they were lured with inducements to discard Hinduism and adopt Christianity. According to media reports, this incident came to light when the victims decided to participate in a Gharwapsi event — a ceremony through which Hindus who had converted to other faiths returned to their original faith, Hinduism. This event was organised by the Dharma Raksha Manch, a Hindu organisation, on the afternoon of 26th October 2025 in the Lalganj area of Mirzapur. It took place at the Eklavya Temple. The victims included Jokhan Pal, Gulab Harijan, Tirsa Devi, Shri Ram, and Dharmendra Harijan. All of them had earlier converted to Christianity after being lured by Christian missionaries. They were formally brought back into the Hindu faith through Vedic chanting and a havan (fire ritual). After the Gharwapsi, Jokhan Pal and Gulab, along with other victims, stated that they had been enticed into converting to Christianity through material inducements. They said that returning to Hinduism had brought them mental peace. A large number of villagers, religious leaders, and social representatives were present at the programme. Chief Guest Vijay Narayan Shukla said that offering inducements or temptations in the name of religion was an unrighteous act. He described the families who had returned to Hinduism as messengers of unity and awareness within society. Harishankar Mishra, District Vice-President of the Vishva Hindu Parishad, a Hindu organisation, said that protecting religion was not only the duty of the organisation but also of every follower of Sanatan Dharma (Hinduism). He emphasised spreading awareness in society and opposing acts that weakened the Hindu culture. Gauravendra Singh, Block President of the Vishva Hindu Parishad, described religious conversion as a question of both religious and cultural consciousness and called upon Hindu society to unite and protect its roots. Following this, the event concluded with chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. Within this, the subcategory selected 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. In this case, the fact that the Christian perpetrators specifically targeted Hindus for conversion demonstrated deep-seated religious animosity. When individuals or groups target members of a particular community for conversion — in this instance, the Hindu community — it exposes entrenched hostility towards that community’s faith, Hinduism. Religious conversion that does not stem from genuine conviction but from external persuasion, inducement, or manipulation can never be deemed a legitimate change of faith. It constitutes coercion and exploitation aimed at Hindus purely because of their religious identity, thereby making this a distinctly religiously motivated offence. The inducements given to the Hindu victims in this incident were not acts of compassion or goodwill but deliberate, calculated attempts to coerce them into abandoning their faith. By offering material temptations to Hindus in distress, the Christian perpetrators engaged in emotional blackmail, weaponising poverty and vulnerability as tools of conversion. Such tactics are consistent with patterns observed in multiple instances where Christian missionary groups have systematically targeted socially and economically disadvantaged Hindus to advance their proselytising agenda. This form of coercion robs Hindus of their dignity and autonomy, turning faith into a matter of manipulation rather than belief. These actions were not random or isolated but premeditated attempts to undermine Hinduism, erode Hindu traditions, and enforce conversions to Christianity — clear manifestations of animosity rooted in religious prejudice, making the act a religiously motivated crime. The fact that all five Hindu families ultimately returned to their ancestral faith revealed the emotional and spiritual torment they suffered after conversion. They expressed that they never experienced peace or belonging in the Christian faith but only distress, guilt, and alienation. Their resolve to return to Hinduism is a testament to the psychological and spiritual damage caused by coercive conversion. Such violations strip individuals of their cultural and spiritual identity, leaving them uprooted and emotionally displaced. The Mirzapur families’ return reaffirms that forcible religious conversion is profoundly harmful and must be recognised as a religiously motivated crime. Instances of targeted proselytisation by Christian missionaries arise from an inherent hostility towards the Hindu faith, since Abrahamic faiths believe that any non-adherent to their faith is subject to being dehumanised till they convert, making it a religiously motivated crime against Hindus. Given that this incident meets the key parameters of an anti-Hindu hate crime, it has been documented in the Hinduphobia Tracker’s hate-crime database. Disclaimer: In this case, it is mentioned that members of 5 families were converted to Christianity. However, the exact number of individuals involved in the conversion is not specified. Due to this lack of clarity, we have relied on the most recent Indian census data, which indicates that the average family size in India is approximately 4.8 members per household. To ensure a standardised estimation, we have opted to consider an average of 5 members per family. Based on this approach, the estimated total number of victims in this case is calculated as 25 individuals. Since an estimated victim count of 25 Hindus has been considered, and no gender-wise breakdown was provided, the Hinduphobia Tracker applied a proportional demographic assessment based on India’s Census 2011 and NFHS-5 (2019–21) rural population data. Accordingly, the 25 victims have been estimated as 13 men (52%) and 12 women (48%), reflecting the typical adult gender composition observed in rural family-based incidents. The Hinduphobia Tracker records the date of an incident based on when the crime or victim’s ordeal actually occurred, rather than when it is reported by the media. The intent is to reflect the real timeline of the offence as experienced by the victims, not delayed documentation by external sources. However, in this particular case, media reports do not specify any exact date or indicate when the victims’ ordeal began. Therefore, for the purpose of documentation, the date of the Ghar Wapsi event — 26th October 2025 — has been considered as the indicative reference date for this incident.