Villagers lured to convert by Christian couple, arrested by police after investigation
Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
25 January, 2025
Case Summary
A Christian couple was arrested in Chhota Lalpur village of Bindki Kotwali area, Fatehpur district, Uttar Pradesh, for involvement in forced religious conversion. Acting on information provided by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) city president Rajesh Singh and Bajrang Dal city coordinator Vimlesh Kumar Bajpai, the police took swift action around 1 PM. Kotwali in-charge Inspector Sunil Kumar Singh, accompanied by a police team, reached the location and conducted an investigation. It was discovered that the accused couple were residents of Odisha. The police detained them and registered a case against them for alleged religious conversion activities. Several VHP and Bajrang Dal members, including Rajesh Singh, Arvind Bhartiya, Sajal Sharma, Abhay Soni, Aniket Gupta, Harshit Dwivedi, Akhilesh Yadav, Anil Dubey, and Piyush Pandey, were present at the scene during the incident. The authorities stated that legal proceedings had been initiated against the couple in accordance with constitutional provisions.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The case has been added to the tracker under the prime category of- Predatory proselytisation. Under this, the sub-category 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. Here, the Christian evangelists were attempting to convert the Hindus by offering various inducements, which clearly means that they attempted to lure them into conversion by violating their religious freedom and exploiting their vulnerabilities to impose a different religious identity on them. Since exploiting vulnerabilities for the explicit purpose of conversion is purely based on animosity towards the victim's faith, this case has been categorised as a religiously motivated hate crime.
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
