Hindus targeted through deceptive prayer meetings, inducements and subtle brainwashing for conversion to Christianity in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh
Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India 
15 August, 2025
Case Summary
In Jondhra village, under the jurisdiction of Pachpedi police station in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, Hindus were targeted for conversion during a Christian prayer meeting. The Hindu victims were drawn to the gathering under the pretext of a prayer meeting, where they were enticed with material incentives to convert to Christianity. According to media reports, the meeting took place at the residence of a local villager and was attended by a large number of women and other villagers. Throughout the gathering, religious hymns were sung, and participants were absorbed in devotional songs. During the proceedings, attempts were made to gradually persuade attendees to convert by offering money, employment, and various benefits. News of the controversy soon spread, resulting in tension within the village. Members of local Hindu organisations arrived on the scene and strongly protested. They stated that such activities had been occurring in village communities for several months, with innocent, poor and uneducated people being lured and converted. In contrast, members of the Christian community denied the conversion efforts, claiming it was merely a prayer meeting with no mention of conversion. They claimed that the participants attended out of their faith and devotion and that no attempt was made to motivate or force anyone to change their religion. Upon receiving information about the incident, a police team arrived at the site and counselled both parties. Police sought to defuse the dispute and appealed for peace, though a heated exchange ensued and the issue was escalated to the police station, with both parties lodging written complaints against each other. The police officials confirmed that, given the seriousness of the situation, an investigation was underway. The Pachpedi station in charge stated that CCTV footage and eyewitness accounts would be reviewed to determine precisely what occurred at the meeting. Authorities confirmed that, if any activity of illegal conversions occur, then strict action would be taken against those responsible. Following the incident, mild tension spread throughout the village and neighbouring areas, leaving villagers feeling insecure and fearful. Nevertheless, the administration assured that the situation was under control, with additional police personnel deployed to prevent further unrest. Hindu organisations warned that, unless such activities ceased, they would mobilise for a larger movement. Reports emphasised that this was not the first such case of illegal conversion in Bilaspur district, with similar controversies arising consistently in recent months. Notably, the Hinduphobia Tracker had previously reported several incidents of religious conversion in Bilaspur in 2025. For example, in Sarkanda, Bilaspur, Hindu women and children were targeted and subjected to intensive brainwashing designed to induce conversion to Christianity by a pastor named Sandhya Tiwari. Christian religious texts and pamphlets were distributed to facilitate these efforts. Similarly, in Bharni village, Bilaspur district, deceptive means masquerading as prayer meetings, de-addiction drives, health cures, and spiritual awareness campaigns were used to target Hindus for conversion. Victims faced prolonged psychological manipulation and systematic indoctrination. Another instance occurred in Shiv Vihar Colony, Bilaspur, where a Hindu man named Shivkant Kashyap was pressurised by Christian evangelists to convert to Christianity. Other Hindu families in the community were similarly targeted through covert prayer meetings in local homes. Likewise, in the Kewatpara area of Bilaspur, Prakash Singh, a Hindu man, was coerced into conversion through inducements offered by Christian missionaries. Several Hindu families, many from marginalised and economically vulnerable backgrounds, were targeted for religious conversion.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. Within this, the subcategory 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. The other subcategory selected in this case 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. In this case, Hindus were lured into converting to Christianity by offering material incentives like money and jobs. The nature of these conversion attempts and their broader impact on the Hindu community clearly indicate a targeted campaign against Hindus as a group. When individuals or organisations focus their efforts solely on converting members of a particular faith, here, Hindus, it displays a fundamental disregard for Hinduism. Conversion efforts that hinge on persuasion, pressure or inducements, rather than genuine conviction, are not simply the sharing of beliefs; they are a direct attempt to undermine the values, traditions, and identity of the Hindu community. It is evident that the Christian perpetrator deliberately targeted Hindus, which illustrates a lack of respect for their faith and practices, making it a religiously motivated hate crime. The act of offering material inducements to encourage Christian conversion shows that these actions were not acts of charity or compassion. Rather, they represent calculated attempts to exploit vulnerable Hindus precisely because of their religious identity. By offering inducements, the perpetrators engaged in emotional blackmail of Hindus who may have been desperate for support. Similar patterns are observed where members of Christian missionary groups specifically target socially and economically vulnerable Hindus, furthering their agenda of religious conversion. This kind of coercion profoundly diminishes the agency and dignity of Hindus and enforces forced conversion. These are deliberate, systematic actions, not random or isolated events, intended to undermine the Hindu faith, convince Hindus to abandon their religion, and compel them to accept Christianity. Such acts are deeply rooted in religious animosity towards Hindu victims, making them clear instances of religiously motivated crimes. Furthermore, reports confirmed that illegal conversion activities had been taking place in Bilaspur over a considerable period. The Hinduphobia Tracker also documented several previous cases of forced Christian conversions in the region. This persistent pattern of luring Hindus with incentives and deliberately targeting them stands as a stark example of a religiously motivated crime. These actions were designed to undermine the religious and cultural identity of Hindus through coercion and manipulation. It is evident that the conversions were neither isolated nor accidental; rather, they comprised a calculated and focused campaign to convert Hindus to Christianity. By specifically targeting Hindus, these Christian evangelists profiled vulnerable individuals and systematically set about erasing their Hindu identity, making it a glaring example of a religiously motivated offence. These instances of targeted proselytisation activities stem from inherent hostility towards the victims' professed faith since Abrahamic faiths believe that any non-adherent to their faith is subject to being dehumanised till they convert, making it a religiously motivated crime against Hindus. Since this case meets multiple parameters of a religiously motivated attack against Hindus, it is being added to the hate crime database. This incident in Jondhra village is not an isolated case of conversion activity but part of a systematic and recurring pattern of targeting Hindus in Bilaspur district. The repeated attempts—through prayer meetings, false promises of money, jobs, health cures, and spiritual assurances—reflect a sustained strategy to weaken Hindu religious identity and gradually replace it with adherence to a contrasting faith. Such activities do not always rely on overt force or threats but instead on psychological manipulation, trust-building, and subtle indoctrination, making them more insidious and harder to detect. The grooming in this case was carried out under the guise of a community prayer meeting. This outwardly benign setting is deliberately chosen because it lowers suspicion and allows perpetrators to exploit social trust and collective vulnerability, especially among poor and uneducated Hindus. By repeatedly creating such environments, perpetrators attempt to normalise the idea of conversion and gradually erode the attachment of Hindu participants to their ancestral dharma. Over time, this produces disaffection towards Hindu beliefs while instilling loyalty towards the contrasting faith being propagated. Since the underlying animosity towards Hindu dharma and the systematic targeting of Hindus are central to these efforts, such proselytisation is not merely a matter of individual choice or spiritual persuasion. It represents a religiously motivated hate crime against Hindus because it attacks their faith identity at its roots, preys upon economic and social vulnerabilities, and reproduces a clear pattern of sustained predation. The fact that multiple, similar incidents in Bilaspur have been reported earlier—each following the same template of deception, inducement, and manipulation—further confirms that this is a patterned campaign directed against Hindus, rather than a random or isolated occurrence.
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
