Case Summary

A case of religious conversion was unearthed in the Gwari Gram Sabha area under the Thanagaon police station limits in Sitapur on the afternoon of 02 November 2025, around 3 PM. Christian evangelists were reportedly organising “Kailashia” gatherings, claiming to heal villagers’ spiritual and physical problems through rituals and exorcisms. Under the pretext of these healing sessions, several villagers were being gradually persuaded to abandon their native faith and embrace Christianity. The activities came to light when members of the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) reached the spot after receiving information about the conversion meeting. Led by VHP district convenor Neeraj, the activists intervened and caught five individuals involved in the programme, handing them over to the Thanagaon police for further action. Those detained were identified as Vansh Gopal, Munna, Sushil, Pradeep, and Suraj Lal, all followers of the Christian faith. In their complaint to the police, the Hindu organisations stated that the group was attempting to convert villagers by offering inducements and exploiting their faith in the name of miracles and divine healing. Police recovered several items from the site, including drums, cymbals, water containers, Christian religious symbols, and other ritualistic materials. Members of the Bajrang Dal also stated that Hindu deities were insulted during the gathering and warned that if swift and strict action was not taken, they would stage demonstrations in protest. Station House Officer (SHO) Vimal Gautam confirmed that an FIR had been registered under relevant legal provisions, and the accused were being sent to jail. He added that the investigation was ongoing and that any attempt to disturb communal harmony through religious coercion would not be tolerated.

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Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category in this case is: Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory under this 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. Another subcategory under this is: Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. 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. Another subcategory under this 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. This case has been added to the Hinduphobia Tracker because it embodies the precise elements of predatory proselytisation, where Hindu villagers were deliberately targeted, manipulated, and lured into religious conversion under deceptive and coercive pretexts. The so-called “Kailashia” gatherings were not acts of voluntary faith but orchestrated programmes designed to exploit the vulnerabilities of poor and uneducated Hindus. The perpetrators, identified as followers of Christianity, presented these sessions as “healing meetings” that promised divine relief from illness and distress. Such false assurances are not acts of benevolence but calculated psychological tools meant to weaken the victims’ confidence in their own faith and create dependence on the religious authority of the perpetrators. The case qualifies as a hate crime against Hindus because the religious identity of the victims was central to the crime itself. The offenders sought to disenfranchise Hindus from their ancestral religion, capitalising on their socio-economic hardship and emotional vulnerability. The underlying intention was not merely to convert individuals but to dismantle their connection with Hindu belief systems, customs, and community identity. By exploiting trust and desperation, the perpetrators used religious manipulation as a means to subvert the victims’ spiritual autonomy. In doing so, they demonstrated religious animosity toward Hinduism, portraying it as insufficient or powerless in curing human suffering, and thereby positioning their own faith as the superior alternative. This pattern reflects a broader, systemic phenomenon observed across tribal and rural belts of India, where conversions are often disguised as humanitarian or faith-healing activities. Such operations prey on the economic insecurities of Hindus, offering relief, education, or social mobility in exchange for religious submission. The Sitapur incident mirrors this trend, with local Hindu villagers being subtly indoctrinated and enticed into abandoning their faith through ritual manipulation. These actions fall under the subcategory of “Conversion by inducement” because they rely on deceptive incentives rather than genuine consent, and “Proselytisation by grooming and manipulation” because they involve a gradual erosion of faith through repeated exposure to alien doctrines. Furthermore, the act of insulting Hindu deities during the gathering underscores the contempt and hostility toward Hinduism that underpin such conversions. This deliberate denigration of Hindu symbols serves both as psychological coercion and as an assertion of dominance of one religion over another. Hence, this incident is not a matter of individual religious choice but of systematic religious aggression directed against a particular faith community. It violates the spiritual integrity of Hindu individuals and represents a clear instance of Hinduphobia manifested through organised, deceitful, and targeted proselytisation.