Hindu villagers targeted for conversion under guise of healing meeting by Chrisian missionaries
Prayagraj (Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh, India 
26 October, 2025
Case Summary
In the Atraura village of the Phulpur area, Prayagraj district, Hindu villagers were targeted for conversion under the guise of a healing meeting by Christian missionaries. According to reports, on 27 October 2025, a healing ceremony was being conducted in the village in which Christian missionaries were attempting to lure Hindu villagers into converting to Christianity. When members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a Hindu organisation, received information about such illegal conversion activities, they immediately went to the site and confronted those conducting the meeting. They also informed the police, who promptly arrived at the location and arrested a Christian woman named Shivani, the daughter of Shivkumar Saroj, who was present at the event. Subsequently, Shantanu Tiwari, a member of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, filed a written complaint with the police, based on which an FIR was registered against three individuals - Shivani, Anara alias Seema Devi, and Abhishek. The case was registered under Section 352 of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act. Shivani was arrested, produced before the court, and was subsequently sent to jail, while Anara, alias Seema Devi and Abhishek were absconding. It was also revealed that the accused were regularly organising healing meetings in which participants from the Hindu community were encouraged to abandon their faith. The police confirmed that the matter was under investigation and that efforts were ongoing to apprehend the remaining accused.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The case has been added to the tracker under the prime category- Predatory proselytisation. Under this, the first 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. The second sub-category selected 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 that 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 the 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 proselytisation, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. This case has been added to the tracker because Hindu villagers were targeted for conversion under the guise of a healing meeting by Christian missionaries. Offering inducements, whether in the form of emotional manipulation, supposed miraculous cures, or promising healing in exchange for conversion, especially when directed at vulnerable individuals in need, shows that these incentives were not acts of kindness or charity. Instead, they were calculated moves to exploit vulnerable Hindus because of their religion. By promising healing in exchange for conversion, the accused were effectively blackmailing those who might have been desperate for assistance or hope. The accused deliberately targeted members of the Hindu community and sought to manipulate their faith and vulnerability to achieve a religious conversion, demonstrating bias and hostility towards the victims’ religion. Such acts are not neutral or charitable in intent but represent an organised effort to erode Hindu religious identity through deceit and psychological pressure. By disguising religious conversion under the pretext of “healing meetings,” the perpetrators preyed upon the emotional and economic vulnerabilities of Hindu villagers, reflecting a clear pattern of religious targeting rather than mutual religious dialogue. These are not random or isolated acts but part of a wider campaign of religious subversion aimed at undermining Hindu belief systems. This form of coercion strips victims of their agency and dignity and constitutes an act of hatred rooted in religious animosity. The targeting of Hindus under the guise of healing meetings is usually driven by religious animosity and aimed at brainwashing Hindus into converting to Christianity. Often in such cases, these healing practices have no scientific basis, thus resulting in no improvement in the patient's health. These so-called spiritual healing sessions frequently serve as the first step in the process of conversion and act as a soft entry point for ideological indoctrination. 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. These tactics are designed not as acts of charity but as tools to engineer religious change under the guise of social upliftment, particularly among vulnerable and underprivileged communities. The recurring pattern of targeting Hindus under such pretences is what classifies this case as a religiously motivated hate crime, driven by antagonism towards a Hindu religious identity.
Case Status
Case sub-judice
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
