Hindus lured to convert to Christianity under the garb of prayer meeting, were being offered money for conversion
Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, India 
24 December, 2024
Case Summary
In Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district, poor and vulnerable Hindus were being targeted for religious conversion. On the day of Christmas (December 25), some Christian evangelists organised a prayer meeting where Hindus were being lured to give up their faith and adopt Christianity. According to reports, they were being lured with monetary incentives. On receiving the information, members of certain Hindu organisations reached the spot and protested against the illegal conversion.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the primary category 'Predatory Proselytisation' under the sub-category '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 under which this case has been placed is- Proselytisation by 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. In this case, the Christian extremists were offering the Hindus money to manipulate them into conversion. When poor individuals are offered such inducements to disenfranchise them from their professed faith, the extremists essentially prey on their vulnerabilities to affect conversion. Further, the use of a prayer gathering as a cover suggests that the individuals involved may have been using indirect methods to lure or convince others into conversion, targeting vulnerable people by exploiting their emotional and social needs. As such, this constitutes a religiously motivated hate crime as actions like these are driven by intolerance towards the victim's religious identity and aim to coerce them into abandoning their faith. For these reasons, this case has been documented as a religiously motivated hate crime in the tracker.
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
