Christian missionary attempts to convert 200 Hindus under the guise of giving them financial assistance

Case ID : b3fc07e | Location : Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 5 August, 2023

Case ID : b3fc07e

Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India

5 August, 2023

Christian missionary attempts to convert 200 Hindus under the guise of giving them financial assistance

Predatory Proselytisation

Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement

Case Summary

A case of religious conversion surfaced in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, where over 200 Hindus were planned to be converted to Christianity. Hindu organizations received information about the event and protested, prompting a police investigation. The incident occurred in the Mangal Nagar area of Heera Nagar police station. Bajrang Dal workers discovered prayers being organized at a rented house, where conversions were purportedly taking place under the guise of a prayer meeting. The Hindu victims were being promised financial aid and cure for their ailments in exchange for conversion to Christianity. When Bajrang Dal members raided the site, they examined the identity cards of the people present there. The IDs revealed that all the victims that gathered there were Hindus. Christian religious materials were found at the site, leading to accusations of forced conversion.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

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. In this case, the Christian evangelists were attempting to exploit a specific vulnerability of the victims who were in all likelihood also economically backward. The missionaries exploited the poor victims by promising them financial help and cures for their ailments - a cure that they either could not afford or for incurable diseases. Since exploiting vulnerabilities for the explicit purpose of conversion is purely based on animosity towards the victim's faith, this case has been categorised as a religiously motivated hate crime.