Hindus targeted and offered inducements for conversion by Christian couple under guise of religious gathering
Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India 
22 November, 2023
Case Summary
In Agra, Uttar Pradesh, Hindus were targeted and offered inducements for religious conversion by a Christian couple, under the guise of a religious gathering. According to reports, the Christian couple were living in a rented house in Sector 7 of Awas Vikas Colony for about two years. The accused couple used to organise a religious gathering every Sunday, where Hindus were lured and offered inducements for religious conversion. On the morning of 23 November 2025, members of the Hindu organisation, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, received information that a prayer meeting was organised by the accused couple, where Hindus were being encouraged to abandon their faith and adopt Christianity. Hindu activists revealed that Hindu residents had been approached for months by some individuals going door to door, urging Hindus to attend Sunday religious gatherings. During these gatherings, Hindus were offered various kinds of inducements, including promises of school admissions for their children, employment opportunities, and monthly financial assistance in an effort to convert them. When Hindu activists arrived at the house, they found that a religious gathering was going on where people were made to pray. They also found Christian religious texts at the first floor of the house, after which the police were informed about the incident. Local residents also stated that these gatherings were being used to persuade vulnerable families to convert, and those who refused faced pressure through other ways. Police arrived at the location and took eight people into custody for interrogation, including the Christian couple, two of their relatives, and four local residents from Awas Vikas Colony, two of whom were Hindus. When the relatives were questioned, they were able to provide a satisfactory answer. Police confirmed that a religious gathering was going on in the house. However, they claimed that no evidence of religious conversion was found as of now. As of the date of writing this report, the investigation was ongoing.
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 category selected is- 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 proselytization, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. The other sub-category selected is - Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducements. 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. This case has been added to the tracker because Hindus were targeted and offered inducements for religious conversion by a Christian couple, under the guise of a religious gathering. Firstly, offering incentives or making false promises, especially when directed at vulnerable individuals in need, shows that these incentives are not acts of kindness or charity. Instead, they are calculated moves to exploit vulnerable Hindus because of religion. By providing inducements or promising jobs and other financial incentives in exchange for conversion, the accused were effectively blackmailing those who might have been desperate for assistance or hope. Such instances are seen in many cases where members of Christian missionary groups target socially and economically vulnerable Hindus to further their agenda of religious conversions. This form of coercion strips people of their agency and dignity and results in coerced conversions. These are not random or isolated incidents, but rather cases deeply rooted in religious animosity towards Hindu victims. Secondly, the accused were converting Hindus under the guise of a Christian religious gathering where Hindu were made to pray, in an effort to push them towards Christianity. What was presented as a simple prayer gathering inside a house was in reality a covert attempt at religious conversion. These were not genuine community prayers but calculated efforts to exploit the trust of Hindus and manipulate them into abandoning their faith. By conducting such gatherings covertly, the Christian missionaries sought to manipulate vulnerable Hindus, taking advantage of their emotional and social circumstances to push them towards conversion. Thirdly, Christian religious literature were also found from the house. Thus, the Christian perpetrators were also actively attempting to indoctrinate the Hindu victims by using Christian religious texts and literature. Using the scriptures or literature of one faith to deliberately target and manipulate members of another, with the clear intention of religious conversion, represents a direct attack on the Hindu faith. Such actions are designed to violate and undermine the beliefs of Hindu victims and are clear indicators of religious hostility towards Hindus and their religious identity. Such actions further demonstrate that this was not an isolated incident of evangelism, but rather part of a broader, organised operation to further religious conversions. When Christian religious material is used to exploit trust, sow doubt, and misrepresent the beliefs of Hindus to coerce conversion, particularly in a systematic manner, it constitutes a religiously motivated offence. Fourth, Hindu activists revealed that such attempts at conversion had been ongoing for an extended period. This demonstrates that the incident was not isolated but part of a larger, well-organised effort to systematically target Hindus for conversion. These repeated acts illustrate a deliberate strategy to alter the religious demographics of the locality by gradually eroding the Hindu population’s connection to their faith. The sustained targeting highlights the perpetrators’ deep-rooted animosity and their intent to change the cultural and religious fabric of the community. This pattern goes far beyond individual conversions; it is a long-term campaign of religious hostility designed to weaken Hindu faith and impose an alien Christian identity on vulnerable Hindus. The Christian faith, by its very theological foundations, places a strong emphasis on proselytisation. In pursuit of conversion objectives, Christian evangelists often employ unethical means, ranging from psychological pressure and misinformation to inducements such as money or jobs. These tactics are designed not as acts of charity but as tools to engineer religious change under the guise of social upliftment, particularly among vulnerable and underprivileged communities. Since the perpetrator's actions were motivated by religious animosity, this case has been added to the tracker. It is also pertinent to note here that the police, in this case, claimed that they found no evidence of religious conversion, though they confirmed that a religious gathering was going on. The police, in many such cases, where the motive behind the crime is obvious but not explicitly mentioned, deny that the crime committed was in any way motivated by a religious bias or say that there was ‘no communal angle’ to the crime. Several factors are generally at play here. Many a time the police downplay incidents of low-level communal crime because it is their jurisdiction that comes under question.The police also often say that there was ‘no communal angle’ or 'no religious conversion' to a crime when there was one because they wish to ensure that owing to the crime already committed, there is no further flare up in the area. However, only a police statement or a media report, for instance, cannot be enough to determine whether there is a communal angle present in the crime that has been committed. In fact, to determine whether the crime is communal in nature or not, we need to give emphasis to the ground realities. For example in the case of Rinku Sharma, the Bajrang Dal activist who was mercilessly stabbed in his house in front of his family members in Delhi’s Mangolpuri area in the year 2021, the leftist media and the leftist ecosystem had tried to peddle that there was no communal angle to the crime. Even the police denied that the crime was communal in nature. However, Opindia spoke to several people who are on the ground with the family of Rinku Sharma and we were told that the communal tension in the area is palpable. The family of Rinku Sharma has said that the Muslims of the area held a grudge against Rinku ever since he celebrated the Ram Mandir verdict. Like the case of Rinku Sharma, those cases where even if the police have denied a communal angle or the leftist media have gone on an overdrive to peddle the ‘no communal angle’ trope, the ground reality, like the victim’s family or relative's testimonies, make it clear that there was an obvious religious bias that led to the crime, will be documented in this tracker. Therefore, even though the police stated that no conversion had been confirmed at that stage, the ground realities made the religious motive evident. A Christian prayer gathering was taking place in the house, Christian literature was recovered, and Hindus had been approached with inducements for months. These factors show a clear pattern of targeted proselytisation directed at Hindus. For this reason, this case has been added to the tracker. Disclaimer: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case have specified the exact date when the conversion activities began, though it is mentioned that the Christian couple rented the house two years ago. Thus, to document this case, we have used an indicative date—23 November 2023—as a placeholder to represent the beginning of conversion activities. While media coverage of the incident emerged on 23 November 2025, the Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began, not when it was reported.
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
