Hindu women lured to attend prayer meetings, brainwashed with religious texts to convert to Christianity
Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
3 December, 2025
Case Summary
In Fatahwa Tola of the Brahmasari village, under the jurisdiction of Belaghat Police Station in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, Hindu women were targeted for forced religious conversion by two Christians. The accused lured Hindu women under the pretext of attending a prayer meeting and indoctrinated them with Christian theology and texts with the intention of converting them. According to media reports, this incident occurred on 4th December 2025, at around 2 pm. Station House Officer Vikas Nath received information that a Christian prayer meeting was taking place at the house of a Christian woman named Sita Devi in the village, during her granddaughter's tonsure ceremony. Approximately 25 Hindu women attended the meeting and were encouraged to convert to Christianity. The Belaghat police promptly arrived at the scene and detained the two accused, a Christian man and woman, who had organised the conversion event under the guise of prayer meetings. Some Hindu women who were present at the scene told the police that the two Christian accused claimed that praying according to Christian practices would resolve their life difficulties. Using this pretext, they persuaded the women to attend the prayer meeting and convert. Villagers also stated that the accused had brainwashed the women by explaining the benefits of religious conversion to Christianity during the event. The police took both accused to the station to investigate whether they were part of any organised religious conversion network or were merely indoctrinating people in the name of a prayer meeting. A Christian religious book was recovered from their possession, which the police seized as evidence for ongoing investigation. Station House Officer Vikas Nath stated that further legal action would be taken based on the recovered religious book, statements from villagers, and other facts.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category selected in this case is- Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary category selected is- Victim says was brainwashed/groomed. 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. This case is a clear instance of an anti-Hindu hate crime because Hindu women were deliberately targeted for religious conversion by the accused under the false pretext of attending prayer meetings. The term "prayer meeting" generally implies a spiritual gathering meant for sincere worship and reflection. However, in this situation, the prayer meeting was exploited as a deceptive tool to lure Hindu women in. Instead of genuine spiritual engagement, the accused manipulated the event to brainwash and indoctrinate these women with Christian theology, aiming to convert them against their will. This deliberate exploitation and targeting of a specific religious group, in this case, Hindus, underlines the religiously motivated nature of this hate crime. The accused actively brainwashed the Hindu victims by convincing them that praying according to the Christian faith and converting to Christianity would bring them supposed benefits and solve their life problems. This methodical indoctrination and psychological manipulation represent a predatory strategy designed to undermine the Hindu faith and cultural identity of vulnerable women. Using brainwashing as a conversion tactic reveals a calculated and deeply rooted religious hostility towards the Hindu community. It exploits the insecurities and hardships faced by the victims to forcibly impose another faith, making the conversion process itself an act of religious coercion and animosity. Moreover, the recovery of a Christian religious book from the accused’s possession highlights the deliberate and premeditated use of religious texts as tools in the conversion scheme. Employing sacred scriptures from one faith to manipulate, confuse, and sow doubt among followers of another reveals deep-seated religious intolerance and hostility towards Hindus. These calculated attempts to undermine Hindu victims’ faith through indoctrination and manipulation intensify the religiously motivated nature of this crime. It exemplifies an ongoing and targeted effort to assault the religious identity of the Hindu community in a profoundly predatory and hostile way. These instances of targeted proselytisation activities stem from inherent hostility towards the victims' professed faith since Abrahamic faiths believe that any non-adherent to their faith is subject to being dehumanised till they convert, making it a religiously motivated hate crime against Hindus. Therefore, this case is being added to the Hate Crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker.
Victim Details
Total Victim
25
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 25
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 25
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 25
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
