Tribal Hindus, including children, targeted for Christian conversion; brainwashed with Christian texts under pretext of faith-based 'healing'
Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, India 
4 September, 2025
Case Summary
In Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, the tribal Hindu community, including women and children, were targeted and pressured for conversion by Christian missionaries under the guise of treatment and prayer meetings. According to reports, on September 5, 2025, tribal Hindus, including women and children, were gathered in a hut on Tanker Road in the industrial area of Ratlam. They were made to perform collective prayers with a cloth tied over their eyes and their hands placed on their heads. When members of the Hindu organisation reached there, they found Bibles and crosses at the site. Minors were also present in the gathering and were being brainwashed to convert. The gathering was organised in the name of healing and treatment, where the people were told that if medicines failed to cure their illnesses, they should pray to Jesus and convert to Christianity. The case came to light after Hindu organisations received information and reached the spot, following which the police were informed. Investigations revealed that four people were involved in the conversion activities. One of the victims, named Kailash Ninama, a labourer belonging to the Scheduled Tribe community, revealed that he came into contact with the missionaries about 4–5 months ago, when he fell ill and went to Ratlam Medical College for treatment. There, he met Jagdish Ninama, who suggested that if medicines did not cure his illness, then prayer to Jesus would cure him. Jagdish told Kailash about weekly prayer meetings at his brother Vikram’s house in Shivnagar, assuring him that he could get cured by attending them. On 5th September 2025, Kailash went to Vikram’s house, where prayers were held and prasad was being distributed. Following this, Kailash was pressured by Jagdish, Vikram, Mangilal, and others to convert to Christianity on the pretext that many people had been cured through such prayers. He further stated that his mental condition deteriorated after consuming the prasad. As of the date of writing this report, the police registered a case under the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act and arrested three accused: Jagdish Ninama, Vikram Ninama, and Mangilal. However, the main accused, Vikram, fled the scene and is absconding.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of: Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory under this 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 second sub-category selected here is - Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion. Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, including threats and coercion. Harassment and threats, in this case, find their root on discriminatory grounds which has the effect of nullifying a person’s rights or infringing upon his freedom to exercise his right specifically owing to the victim’s religious identity. Verbal and physical threats and psychological or physical harassment are often used against Hindu victims because they choose to practice their professed religion. Religious harassment also includes forced and involuntary conversions by harassment, threats or coercion. Coercion includes intimidatory tactics like force-feeding a Hindu victim beef to convert to another religion, forceful circumcision etc. In several cases documented, non-Hindu perpetrators or those who harbour specific animosity towards Hinduism, harass victims simply based on their religious identity. Such cases often also include harassment to ensure the Hindu victim abandons his/her professed religion and adopts the religion of the perpetrator. Such cases where Hindu victims are harassed to convert to the perpetrator’s religion are rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. The third sub-category selected here is - Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination, with the tertiary categories being - Pattern of targeting Hindus and Conversion of Minor. 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 the tribal Hindu community, including women and children, were targeted and pressured for conversion by Christian missionaries. The accused specifically went to Ratlam Medical College to lure Hindu patients for conversion, taking advantage of their illnesses to prey upon their emotional vulnerability. This was a form of emotional manipulation that targeted the desperation of patients seeking relief from suffering. He induced the Hindus to convert to Christianity under the pretext of curing diseases. Such acts of offering inducements, especially when directed at vulnerable individuals in need, show that these were not acts of kindness or charity but calculated moves to exploit Hindus because of their religion. By providing inducements or promising healing in exchange for conversion, the missionaries were effectively blackmailing those who were desperate for assistance or hope. Such instances have been seen in many cases where Christian missionary groups deliberately target socially and economically vulnerable Hindus to further their agenda of religious conversions. This form of coercion strips Hindu victims of their agency and dignity and results in forced conversions, making it a religiously motivated crime. The missionaries also pressured the Hindu victims to renounce their religion and convert to Christianity. The victim, Kailash Ninama, stated that he had been pressured for conversion by the missionaries. Forcing a Hindu individual to discard his faith and embrace another was a direct attack on his religious identity and dignity. It was not a matter of personal choice; it was coercion rooted in hostility towards the victim’s Hindu identity. 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. In such cases, Christian missionary groups often target and brainwash socially and economically vulnerable Hindus to further their agenda of religious conversions. These are not random or isolated incidents, but rather premeditated efforts to undermine the Hindu faith, persuade Hindus to discard their own faith, and convert to Christianity. Such acts are deeply rooted in religious animosity towards Hindu victims and their faith. It is further important to note that some of the victims present at the gathering were minors, which meant that the element of consent and genuine change of conscience was missing from the very beginning. Minors, because of their young age and lack of maturity, are particularly vulnerable to manipulation and coercion. They do not have the ability to fully understand the implications of abandoning their religion and adopting another. The missionaries purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability. Since this case exemplified inducement, coercion, and brainwashing for religious conversion—including of minors—it stands as a blatant act of religious hate. Such acts were not merely criminal in nature but ideologically motivated, revealing prejudice and a calculated intent to alter the religious identity of Hindus without their volition. 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. Reports also indicated that the accused had been involved in illegal conversion activities for a long time and that they had targeted several Hindus for conversion. This persistent pattern of targeting Hindus, luring them with inducements and subjecting them to psychological manipulation served as a stark example of a religiously motivated crime. Such actions are aimed at undermining the religious and cultural identity of Hindus through coercion, manipulation, and unlawful means. Such incidents highlighted that the conversions were neither isolated nor accidental but formed part of a calculated and targeted strategy to convert Hindus to Christianity. By focusing specifically on Hindus, these Christian evangelists were profiling vulnerable individuals and working systematically to erase their Hindu identity. The repeated nature of these actions revealed a deliberate intent to disrupt the cultural fabric and faith of the community, leaving the victims exposed to ongoing pressure and exploitation. 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 and their faith; therefore, it is being added to the hate crime database.
Case Status
Case sub-judice
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
