Hindu villagers lured for religious conversion under the guise of prayer meeting in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh
Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
23 August, 2025
Case Summary
In the Bhaura village of Jaunpur district, Uttar Pradesh, Hindu villagers were targeted for religious conversion under the guise of a prayer meeting. Members of the Hindu organisation filed a complaint stating that some individuals were attempting to convert local Hindu villagers by luring them under the guise of a prayer meeting. Acting on this complaint, a police team led by Kotwali in-charge Triveni Singh raided the spot the following day and found a large gathering engaged in prayers. During the raid, twelve women who were involved in illegal conversion were arrested, and several religious books, prayer materials and other conversion-related literature were recovered from the site. The police brought the arrested women to the station for questioning and began an investigation into the case. As news of the raid spread, a large crowd gathered at the location, with some locals supporting the police action.
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 - Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination, with 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. This case has been added to the tracker because Hindu villagers were lured for religious conversion by unknown individuals under the guise of a prayer gathering. The fact that such conversion activities were carried out in the name of prayer showed the malicious intent to disguise proselytisation activities and operate them in a covert manner. Police also recovered diaries, religious books, and other conversion-related literature during the raid. This indicated that the perpetrators were indoctrinating and targeting Hindu victims using 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, represented a direct attack on the Hindu faith. Such actions were designed to violate and undermine the beliefs of Hindu victims and were clear indicators of religious hostility towards Hindus and their religious identity. This was not an isolated incident but reflected a broader, organised pattern of religious subversion, where gatherings and prayer meetings were used as instruments of manipulation. When perpetrators used religious material to exploit trust, sow doubt, and misrepresent Hindu beliefs in order to coerce conversion, especially in a systematic manner, it amounted to religious grooming and brainwashing. These tactics, subtle yet calculated, highlighted a predatory form of proselytisation targeting Hindus, making it a religiously motivated hate crime. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when the victim’s ordeal began. However, in this case, the report does not provide specific details regarding when the perpetrators started such conversion activities. Therefore, for documentation purposes, the date of the incident has been recorded as the date it was reported in the media.
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Unknown
Perpetrators Range
From 10 to 100
Perpetrators Gender
female
Sources 
