Hindu man threatened and assaulted for resisting conversion attempts by Christian extremists in Bazpur, Uttarakhand
Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand, India 
4 November, 2025
Case Summary
A Hindu man, Sanjiv, resident of Namuna Diohari village, endured a frightening confrontation on 5th November 2025 when four men from his village, belonging to the Christian community, argued with him over the drainage channel being constructed outside his home. When he and his family opposed them, the men resorted to physical assault and stated that no construction would be allowed. This incident was not isolated; Sanjiv and his family had been facing ongoing pressure from these individuals to convert his religion, a demand that had persisted and intensified over time. The family had been threatened that if they didn’t convert, they wouldn’t be allowed to live in the village. Determined to seek protection, Sanjiv turned to the Uttarakhand Valmiki Dalit Samaj Sudhar Sangathan for support. On Saturday, 8th November 2025, he arrived at the Kotwali police station in Bazpur, accompanied by the organisation's president, Anil Valmiki, to file a formal written complaint detailing the assault and the coercive attempts at religious conversion. Anil Valmiki stood by him, emphasising that dominant figures in the village were using fear tactics to force the family to change their faith. The Kotwali's Sub-Inspector, Devendra Manral, received the complaint and assured Sanjiv that an investigation would follow promptly, leading to the necessary actions to address the threats and hold the perpetrators accountable.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of: Predatory Proselytisation. Within it, the first sub-category selected 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. In this case, a Hindu family was subjected to persistent harassment and intimidation by the perpetrators, whose objective was to compel them to convert to Christianity. The group of Christians tried to disrupt a drainage construction along the victim's property. When the Hindu man opposed, he was physically assaulted and threatened that no construction would be allowed, and the family would be thrown out of the village if they continued to resist conversion. The pressure was not interpersonal; it was directly linked to their being Hindu and choosing to remain so. The threats, harassment, and psychological intimidation were not aimed at gaining material benefit, but rather at punishing them for refusal to abandon their faith. When a person or family is harassed in a targeted manner for practising or defending their religion, and the intention is to induce them to change it, such actions constitute hate-motivated coercion. The hate lies in the rejection and hostility toward the victim’s continued adherence to Hinduism. Therefore, this case falls under religiously motivated harassment and coercion, with the objective of forced religious conversion, making it a clear hate crime. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when an event occurred or when the victim's ordeal began. It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case has specified the exact date when the harassment over conversion began. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the physical assault happened: 5th November 2025. Disclaimer: In this case whole family was being coerced to convert to Christianity; still, the exact number of the family members is not mentioned in the report. Also, only the Hindu man was physically assaulted; hence, in this instance, we have conservatively considered one victim for documentation purposes.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 1
- Female 0
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 1
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 1
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
