Hindu families targeted for Christian conversion; lured with inducements, subjected to manipulation and denigration of revered Hindu deity

Case ID : b1c5d79 | Location : Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Mon, 13 October, 2025

Case ID : b1c5d79

Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India

13 October, 2025

Hindu families targeted for Christian conversion; lured with inducements, subjected to manipulation and denigration of revered Hindu deity

Predatory Proselytisation

Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Attempting to convert/converting by denigrating Hinduism

Case Summary

In Dehra, Kangra district, Himachal Pradesh, Hindus were lured to convert to Christianity by six Christians, including both men and women. The accused lured Hindus with inducements, subjected them to manipulation, and also denigrated Lord Shiva, a revered Hindu deity. According to reports, this conversion attempt created tension in the area on 14th October 2025. A group of Christian preachers from Dasuha in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, were luring local Hindu residents into converting. Upon receiving the information, members of local Hindu organisations protested and informed the police, leading to a swift response from the Dehra police station. Pawan Sharma, a local representative of a Hindu organisation, stated that the accused individuals were luring Hindus with temptations, manipulating them and preaching that “Shiva is a devil” and had arrived in the area under the guise of meeting relatives, carrying dholaks and tongs to mislead locals. He stated that while Hindus respect all faiths, interference in Hindu beliefs would not be tolerated. One of the accused, Christian preacher James Masih, denied this, claiming they had merely come to visit a relative and pray, not to convert anyone. The police reached the spot and brought the situation under control, detaining all six accused, identified as James Masih, Nathu Ram, Jogindra Ram, Tania, Sushma Rani, and Rani, all residents of Punjab. On the complaint of Kuldeep Kumar and Hamir Chand, a case was registered under Sections 299, 62, 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 4 of the Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2019. Superintendent of Police Mayank Chaudhary confirmed that the investigation was underway and that all aspects of the case were being examined. Meanwhile, large crowds gathered outside the police station throughout the day, prompting the deployment of additional personnel to maintain order. The administration appealed to residents to stay calm and avoid spreading rumours. Following the incident, members of the local community who had been manipulated to convert held an emergency meeting. It was decided that those who had converted would be urged to return to Hinduism, failing which they would face a social boycott. In one instance, a family reconverted to Hinduism at the Radha Krishna temple under the guidance of priest Manoj Bhardwaj, with mantras chanted as part of the ceremony. Other families were also encouraged to follow suit.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category in this case is: Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory under this is: Conversion/attempts to convert by inducements. 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 is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. 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. The other subcategory under this is: Attempting to convert/converting by denigrating Hinduism. In several cases, Hindus are converted or an attempt is made to convert Hindus by denigrating their faith, Hinduism. In such cases, the Hindus associate with the non-Hindu perpetrators often by choice and then, the attempt to convert them by insulting their faith, showing the faith down etc begins. An example of this would be a non-Hindu gathering where the Hindus are attending the gathering of their own free will. However, once they attend the gathering, there is an explicit attempt to convert them by abusing their faith and hailing the faith of the perpetrator. The denigration of the Hindu faith is often based on misrepresentation of the Hindu faith, its doctrine and scriptures and insult to espoused traditions if not blatant lies about Hindu beliefs and ways. Such conversions or attempts at conversions are driven by animosity towards the Hindu faith and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. This case has been added to the Hinduphobia Tracker as an instance of Predatory Proselytisation, involving inducements, subtle religious manipulation and indoctrination, and the denigration of Hinduism. The incident in Dehra, Himachal Pradesh, reflects a recurring pattern of deceptive conversion activity observed in several parts of India, where external religious actors enter Hindu-majority localities under false pretences and engage in indirect, manipulative efforts to influence residents into abandoning their ancestral faith, Hinduism. The act of offering inducements demonstrates that these actions were not motivated by kindness or charity. Instead, they were calculated attempts to exploit vulnerable Hindus specifically because of their religion. By providing inducements to Hindus to change their faith, the Christian perpetrators were effectively emotionally blackmailing those vulnerable Hindus who might have been desperate for assistance. Such instances are seen in many cases where members of Christian missionary groups target socially and economically vulnerable Hindus to further their agenda of religious conversions. This form of coercion strips Hindus of their agency and dignity and enforces forced conversions. Such acts are deeply rooted in religious animosity towards Hindu victims and their faith, making it a religiously motivated crime. Furthermore, the Christian preachers arrived from Punjab, carrying musical instruments such as dholaks and tongs, and claimed they had come to visit relatives. However, upon engaging with local families, they began spreading Christian doctrinal propaganda, specifically denigrating Hindu beliefs by stating that “Shiva is a devil.” Such statements not only offend deeply held religious sentiments but also reflect a structured theological attack aimed at instilling self-doubt among Hindus about their faith and reverence for their deities. Lord Shiva, one of the most sacred and revered deities in Hinduism, represents both creation and dissolution, embodying the balance between cosmic forces and the pursuit of liberation. To describe such a divine figure as a “devil” is not merely a casual insult but an ideological tactic often used in proselytisation efforts to assert the superiority of another religion while demeaning Hindu cosmology and its spiritual foundations. These utterances serve the dual purpose of psychologically weakening Hindu listeners and elevating the perceived moral and theological status of the proselytising group—in this case, Christian preachers. This process constitutes a form of religious coercion that is subtle yet corrosive, as it seeks to undermine the very foundations of Hindu identity through distortion and denigration rather than direct force or inducement. The entry of the accused into the Hindu locality, under the guise of familial visits and accompanied by devotional paraphernalia, demonstrates an orchestrated attempt to blend into the Hindu community before gradually initiating their conversion strategy. This use of deception to access and influence Hindu households underscores the manipulative and predatory nature of such proselytisation attempts. Reports demonstrate that once the Hindu community realised the true intention behind these visits, they resisted the efforts, and several members who had been influenced decided to reconvert to Hinduism in the presence of temple priests. The fact that religious conversion was attempted through inducements, manipulation and derogation of Hindu gods places this case squarely within the ambit of religiously motivated hate crimes, as it reflects a deliberate attempt to dismantle Hindu belief systems and assert the supremacy of Christianity. Such cases are not isolated but form part of a broader trend of covert proselytisation where vulnerable Hindu individuals or families are gradually indoctrinated through repeated exposure to anti-Hindu narratives disguised as spiritual discourse. The use of language equating Hindu deities with demonic imagery reveals the underlying animosity that drives these activities. It is not an act of voluntary religious exchange but one of targeted psychological conditioning, exploiting faith and trust to alter religious identity. The denigration of Lord Shiva and other deities in this context is therefore not merely offensive speech but a calculated component of a hate-driven strategy that seeks to delegitimise Hindu faith and spirituality. Given that this case is a clear instance of a religiously motivated crime, it is being added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: It is important to state that media reports do not specify the total number of families targeted for conversion. However, the media does mention that one of the victim families who converted returned to Hinduism. Based on this, we are recording an estimated count of one Hindu family as a conservative estimate targeted for conversion. Since one family is reported to have been converted to Christianity, and the exact number of victims within that family is not specified, we have relied on the most recent Indian census data, which indicates the average family size is approximately 4.8 members. For standardisation, we have rounded this figure to 5 members per household. Therefore, for documentation purposes, the victim count is recorded as 5 individuals. Reports also do not have any gender segregation of the 5 victims. Therefore, for documentation clarity, the Hinduphobia Tracker applied proportional demographic estimates based on India’s Census 2011 and NFHS‑5 (2019–21) rural population data. Accordingly, the five participants were estimated as 3 men (60%) and 2 women (40%), reflecting typical rural adult gender distribution.