Hindu woman and her children pressured to convert to Christianity by husband and in laws for missionary incentives in Gumla district, Jharkhand
Gumla, Jharkhand, India 
7 January, 2024
Case Summary
A Hindu woman faced persistent pressure to convert to Christianity from her husband and his family in Jharkhand. She left her husband and in-laws after years of coercion, maintaining her faith in Sanatan Dharma. The woman married into a tribal family from the Urav community, following Hindu customs and rituals. Initially, both she and her husband practised Sanatan Dharma. Over time, her husband’s family, who had a Christian background for generations, sought to convert her and her children to Christianity. For the past two years, she endured constant pressure to adopt Christianity along with her children. Missionary influence was evident in the village, with external groups offering inducements, including financial support, educational benefits, and healthcare incentives, to persuade tribal families to convert. The woman stated that these methods often involved large church establishments acquiring tribal land under such pretexts. The woman chose to leave her husband and in-laws rather than abandon her faith. She returned to her father’s home and built her own house through personal effort. Despite facing social boycott, familial pressure, and financial difficulties, she continued to educate her children in Sanatan Dharma and maintain her religious practices. The woman organised devotional gatherings and bhajans to reinforce Sanatan Dharma among tribal women and children. She educated people about their cultural heritage and warned against foreign religious influence. Despite risks, including threats from missionary groups, she remained undeterred, motivated by truth and devotion.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been documented under the selected primary category is: Predatory proselytisation. Under this, the selected secondary category is: Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. Under this, the selected tertiary categories are: Victim says brainwashed/groomed, Conversion of minor and Pattern of targeting Hindus 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. Another selected secondary category 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. This case can be understood as a religiously motivated hate crime due to the following observations: Firstly, the victim was targeted explicitly because of her religion. She belonged to the Hindu faith (Sanatan Dharma) and was pressured by her husband and his family, who had adopted Christianity, to abandon her religion. The coercion was continuous and deliberate, spanning over two years, demonstrating that the motive behind the harassment was her religious identity, not a personal dispute or domestic disagreement. Secondly, the coercion extended to her children. Her husband and family attempted to convert her children to Christianity, showing an intention to erase the family’s Hindu faith across generations. This illustrates that the hostility was aimed at suppressing Hindu beliefs and imposing a different religion, making it more than a private family matter. Thirdly, external missionary influence compounded the pressure. Missionary groups in the area used inducements such as financial benefits, educational opportunities, and healthcare promises to encourage conversion. Large church establishments also acquired tribal land under similar pretexts. The systematic targeting of her family, combined with inducements and social pressure, demonstrates an organised effort to undermine her religion. Fourthly, the woman faced social boycott, criticism, and pressure from extended family and the community. These actions were linked directly to her refusal to convert, showing that hostility against her was communal and religion-based. Finally, despite leaving her husband, building her own house, and continuing to educate her children in Sanatan Dharma, the victim was repeatedly challenged in her autonomy to practise her faith. The combination of personal, familial, and social pressures aimed at changing her religion constitutes a deliberate attack on her Hindu identity. In conclusion, the targeting of her faith, coercion to convert herself and her children, use of inducements, social isolation, and attempts to suppress her religious autonomy collectively qualify this incident as a religiously motivated hate crime. It was an attack on her and her family explicitly because of their religion, making it a case of religiously motivated persecution. The Hinduphobia Tracker records incident dates based on when the crime occurred rather than when it was reported in the media. In this case, media reports did not specify the exact date on which the victim’s ordeal began. In the absence of a clearly established incident date, 8 January 2024, the date of the media report referring to events that had been ongoing for approximately two years, was selected as the indicative incident date for documentation purposes. Disclaimer on victim count: For standardisation purposes, the victim count in this case has been recorded as 3, consisting of 1 Hindu woman and 2 children. The report does not explicitly mention the exact number of children involved. In the absence of a confirmed figure, we have relied on a demographic proxy from the 2011 Census, which indicates an average of around 1.9 children per woman. This has been conservatively rounded to 2 to estimate the likely number of children, and the total has been recorded accordingly. This figure is an estimate for documentation only and will be revised upward or downward if the exact number of children is reported or officially confirmed later.
Victim Details
Total Victim
3
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 2
Caste
- SC/ST 3
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 0
Age Group
- Minor 2
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
