Hindu children brainwashed to convert to Christianity in missionary-operated unauthorised residential hostel
Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, India 
5 November, 2025
Case Summary
Hindu students were brainwashed and forced to convert to Christianity in an unauthorised residential hostel in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra. The District Women and Child Welfare Department raided the illegal facility and rescued 91 children. The hostel, named Aashirwad, was being secretly run in Nagepalli near Aheri for nearly eleven years by an organisation called Friend Missionary Prayer Band Chennai. The children rescued from the hostel belonged to the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribe communities, and they had been conditioned to introduce themselves as Christians. The inspection revealed that the premises had no recognition or approval from any department of the Maharashtra government. Fees were extracted every month from families, while the children were kept in an environment where Christian prayers were conducted daily, the walls carried only Christian propaganda material, and every single student owned a Bible. The children were shifted temporarily to government-recognised hostels following the raid. Officials stated that this organisation runs similar hostels in other parts of the state. A similar case involving the same network was noticed in Nashik in 2015. This raised serious questions about how such an operation ran for eleven years without the local administration detecting it, and whether there were more such covert conversion hostels active across the region.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category in this case is: Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory under this is: Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary categories under this are: Conversion of minor and Pattern of targeting Hindus. 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 proselytisation, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. This case has been included in the tracker because it demonstrates a structured and deliberate chain of conduct which falls squarely within predatory proselytisation. The hostel that was raided was operating for almost eleven continuous years, without any state recognition or legal status. 91 Hindu children, mostly belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities, were kept inside a setting where they were systematically conditioned to identify as Christian and where Christian religious materials and prayers dominated their daily life. The arrangement was not accidental, and it was not informal. The environment shows sustained and careful indoctrination that had been embedded into the daily routine of minors. There was a clear logistical arrangement, regular fees were collected, and a missionary organisation was allegedly running the institution. This moves the matter beyond casual exposure. This becomes a deliberate framework oriented towards religious conversion. This case also illustrates how predatory proselytisation functions when the target group is socio-economically vulnerable. Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe populations are among the most economically fragile communities in India. Hostels that are presented as educational and upliftment facilities often become points of entry for missionary bodies that seek religious gains. The control over shelter, food, fees, and schooling allows the missionary body to control the emotional and practical environment of the children who live inside the institution. It is further important to note here that the victims were minors, which means the element of consent and genuine change of conscience was missing ab initio. Minors, due to their young age and lack of maturity, are particularly vulnerable to manipulation and coercion. They may not have the ability to fully understand the implications of converting to another religion, and the Christian perpetrator purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability of the victims. When children are made dependent on daily life, basic necessities, and education, the educator or caretaker occupies a fiduciary position. In such a setting, religious instruction by that fiduciary is not neutral, and it is not optional. This is the fundamental logic of predatory grooming. Coercion here does not need to be visible as an explicit threat. Coercion here is embedded in the structure itself. The child cannot contest or negotiate. The child is simply conditioned. For these reasons, this case is not an administrative irregularity or limited to a bureaucratic violation. The religious identity of the victims was central to the purpose of the hostel. A Hindu identity was seen as a field to be overwritten. Christianity was positioned as the replacement identity to be imposed. The context, the planning, the secrecy, and the duration combine to show that the operation was ideologically motivated and directed at Hindu children with the final aim of their religious conversion. This is precisely the core definition of predatory proselytisation and therefore it qualifies as an act of religious hatred against Hindus, and has been documented in the tracker. Disclaimer: The date of the incident has been recorded as the date on which this case was reported in the media, since no specific date of occurrence has been mentioned in available sources.
Victim Details
Total Victim
91
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 0
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 91
Caste
- SC/ST 91
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 0
Age Group
- Minor 91
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
