Hindus, including children, targeted in Farrukhabad by Christians through brainwashing and inducement
Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, India 
6 April, 2024
Case Summary
In Kuraar village, Farrukhabad district, Uttar Pradesh, Christians lured Hindus, including minors, to convert to Christianity using money. The operation was led by RSS District Dharma Jagran Pramukh Dinesh Singh Tomar and Co-Religious Pramukh Sarvesh Shukla, accompanied by other members. Upon reaching the house, they found women, men, and children being taught from the Bible by three outsiders. As soon as the RSS team arrived, villagers began to disperse. Police were called, and one of the arrested was identified as a teacher from Merapur Inter College, a resident of Kaushambi. Women present at the gathering said that exorcism rituals had also been performed. In his complaint, Tomar stated that the accused had converted many poor Hindu families over the past year, with assistance from two villagers who joined the racket for financial gain. Police have arrested the three accused Christians for operating an illegal conversion network.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. Within this, the subcategory selected is - Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary category selected is- Pattern of targeting Hindus and Conversion of minor. 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 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. In this case, the accused attempted to exploit the victims’ economic vulnerabilities by offering financial incentives for conversion. Poor Hindu families were lured with promises of money, evidenced by the recovery of blank cheques from the site. This is a textbook case of inducement, where poverty and financial desperation are weaponised to coerce individuals into abandoning their religion. The victims’ Hindu identity was central to the perpetrators’ motive, as the aim was to detach them from their faith by exploiting their material needs. This calculated targeting of Hindus for conversion through inducement makes the offence both predatory and a religiously motivated hate crime. Also, minors were directly involved in this conversion attempt. This means that any notion of consent or genuine change of conscience was absent from the outset. Minors, due to their age and lack of maturity, are especially vulnerable to manipulation and coercion. They may not fully understand the implications of converting to another religion. In this case, the Christian perpetrators exploited this vulnerability of the Hindu children to further religious conversion, highlighting the religious motivation behind the crime. Hence, this case is included in the hate crime database.
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
