Pastor pressurises Hindu soldier to convert to Christianity, beats and abuses him in Church
Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India 
14 September, 2023
Case Summary
In Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya, an Indian Army soldier levelled accusations against Pastor Ashish Kumar Peter of coercing him into converting to Christianity. He also accused the Christian pastor of physical assault and verbal abuse. This case was officially registered at the Kotwali police station in Ayodhya on August 26, 2023, and is currently under investigation by the police. In the complaint, the soldier revealed that his father was introduced to Ashish Kumar Peter aka Johnny through an old acquaintance who brought this pastor as a property dealer. Johnny Peter, along with two other people named Shyam Shankar Peter and Sachin Chaudhary, posed as property dealers and took around Rs 20 lakh from the victim's father for the sale of a piece of land adjacent to the church. After receiving the money, Pastor Peter ceased responding to calls from the victim and his father. Observing his father’s distress, the Naib Subedar returned home on leave. On July 25, 2023, he visited the church to request the owed money from the priest where he was subjected to severe physical assault. While berating and abusing the victim soldier, the accused pastor insisted that the soldier would need to convert to Christianity if he wished to recover the money. The victim said that the pastor not only denigrated Hinduism but also lured him by offering land for free if he became a Christian. The pastor started swearing to stop the slogans of ‘Jai Kali Mata’, ‘Bajrang Bali Ki Jai’, ‘Jai Jwala Mata’ and some other slogans raised by the Indian Army during the war.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This particular case has been classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under two subcategories under Predatory Proselytisation because of the various distinct components that demonstrate the perpetrator's bias against the Hindu faith and their deliberate attempt to alienate the victims from their Hindu identity. Because of the case's specifics, we have put this case under the prime category: Predatory Proselytization and to narrow down the search further we have chosen the subcategory 'attempting to convert by harassment/threat' under this core category in addition to '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. The second sub-category under 'Predatory Proselytisation' relevant in this case is 'Attempting to convert by harassment/threat' 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 have 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 and forceful circumcision. 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 in an attempt to make the Hindu victim abandon his/her professed religion and adopt the religion of the perpetrator. In this sub-category, we would include cases where the non-Hindu perpetrator harassed, threatened or coerced the victim to convert, however, the Hindu victim did not convert to another faith. Cases where the victim was converted owing to the harassment and threats would be documented in another sub-category. 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 specific case, elements of both these subcategories were observed. Firstly, it is evident from the details that the Hindu victim belonged to the economically weaker section of the society. The pastor was attempting to convert him by offering him the inducement of money. Further, he was also threatened with harm that would come to their family if they refused to convert. Another element in the case was the Pastor denigrated the victim's faith in his attempt to show that Christianity was a superior faith to Hinduism. It is therefore observed that the pastor not only attempted to convert the Hindu victims through inducement but also issued threats and harassed the Hindus and belittled his religion in an attempt to convert him. Since the motivating factor of the crime was the religious identity of the victims and the intention of disenfranchising them from it, the case has been categorised as a hate crime.
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 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
