Several forced to convert to Christianity under the guise of prayer meeting

Case ID : 90a0696 | Location : Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 25 January, 2025
Case ID : 90a0696
location Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India
date 25 January, 2025
Several forced to convert to Christianity under the guise of prayer meeting
Predatory Proselytisation
Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Case Summary

In Chhattisgarh's Raipur district, Hindu organisations uncovered ongoing Christian conversions happening under the guise of prayer meetings. Three accused including a pastor were detained in Raipur and promotional materials were seized. Hindu groups, led by Bajrang Dal, learned about alleged forced conversions happening in Mitaan Vihar Colony in the Mowa area under the Pandri Police Station. They reached the house where the conversions were reportedly taking place under the guise of prayer meetings and classes and chanted slogans such as ‘Jai Shri Ram’. As the situation escalated, a heavy police force was deployed to maintain law and order.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This particular case has been classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under the sub-category: Proselytisation by brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination, under the core category of 'Predatory Proselytisation' because the details of the case clearly demonstrate the perpetrator's bias against the victim's faith and the deliberate attempt to alienate them from their religious identity. 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. Here, the use of a prayer gathering as a cover suggests that the individuals involved may have been using indirect methods to lure or convince others into conversion, possibly targeting vulnerable people by exploiting their emotional, social, or religious needs. As such, this constitutes a religiously motivated hate crime as actions like these are driven by intolerance towards the victim's religious identity and aim to coerce them into abandoning their faith.

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Case Status


Arrested

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Perpetrators Details

Perpetrators


Christian Extremists

Perpetrators Range


From 2 To 5

Perpetrators Gender


male

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