Innocent Hindu villagers targeted, lured with false promises for conversion to Christianity
Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, India 
24 January, 2026
Case Summary
In Nasratpur village of Ghazipur district, Uttar Pradesh, Hindu villagers were targeted for religious conversion by a Christian couple along with two other individuals. The accused, Gautam Ram, his wife Savita Devi, Laxman Ram, and Vyasmuni Ram, were involved in converting Hindus by luring them with inducements and false promises. The conversion activities were carried out every Sunday between 10:30 am and 1:30 pm. After receiving information about the ongoing conversion activities, Shravan Kumar Ram, the BJP Mandal President of Suhwal Mandal and a resident of Malsa, filed a complaint at the Ghazipur police station. In his complaint, he stated that local residents were hesitant to report the matter due to fear. Following the complaint, on January 25 at around 10 am, when the police reached the location along with Shravan Kumar Ram, the accused abused them and issued threats to kill anyone who proceeded against them. The police subsequently registered a case against Gautam Ram, Savita Devi, Laxman Ram, and Vyasmuni Ram. Kotwal Ramsajan Nagar stated that an FIR was registered on the basis of the complaint and that the matter is under investigation.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case had been added to the tracker under the primary category of: Predatory proselytisation. Under this, the sub-category selected is: Conversion/ attempt 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 other sub-category selected here is - Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation, or subtle indoctrination. Under this, the selected tertiary category is - 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 the 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 proselytisation, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. This case was added to the tracker because poor and illiterate Hindu villagers were targeted for conversion by the Christian perpetrator. He specifically targeted economically vulnerable Hindu villagers and offered them money to push them towards conversion. Offering incentives, especially to poor or vulnerable people, showed that these were not acts of kindness or charity but calculated efforts to exploit hardship and pressure Hindus towards conversion. By providing inducements in exchange for conversion, the accused effectively exploited individuals who may have been desperate for assistance or hope. Similar instances have been documented in multiple cases where members of Christian missionary groups targeted socially and economically vulnerable Hindus to further their agenda of religious conversions. Moreover, by exploiting trust, inducing conversion through deception, and issuing threats when challenged, the accused denied Hindu villagers their right to practice and preserve their faith freely. The incident, therefore, constituted a hate-motivated act rooted in religious animosity, with clear victim-centric harm to Hindus who were targeted specifically because of their religious identity. This form of coercion stripped individuals of their agency and dignity and resulted in coerced conversions. Such actions were not random or incidental but reflected conduct driven by hostility towards Hindu victims. This case also reflected a deliberate pattern of systematically targeting Hindu villagers for religious conversion. The accused Gautam Ram, along with accomplices, repeatedly approached poor and illiterate Hindus, including women, under the guise of prayer meetings, using inducements, gradual indoctrination, and denigration of Hindu beliefs over time. The continuity of these activities demonstrated a sustained effort to weaken Hindu faith within the community, showing that the targeting was not random but part of an ongoing strategy aimed at undermining Hindu religious identity. The Christian faith places a strong emphasis on proselytisation, and in pursuit of conversion objectives, Christian evangelists have been documented employing unethical methods such as denigration of Hinduism and the use of inducements like money or employment. In such cases, Christian missionary groups frequently targeted socially vulnerable Hindus to advance religious conversion efforts. This form of coercion deprived Hindus of their agency and dignity and resulted in forced conversions. These actions represented deliberate efforts to undermine Hindu faith and persuade Hindus to abandon their religion, demonstrating conduct rooted in religious animosity towards Hindu victims, which warranted the inclusion of this case in the tracker. What further aggravated the seriousness of this incident is that the tracker had recorded several similar cases in Ghazipur district, where Hindus were repeatedly targeted, lured with inducements, and pressured into changing their religion. This established that the harm suffered in the present case formed part of a continuing pattern of conversion-related targeting of Hindus in the region, as documented through multiple reports added to the tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia tracker records the incident based on when the victims’ ordeal began or when the event occurred, not when it was reported. As the report did not specify the exact date when the conversion activities began or when victims were first targeted, the date was recorded based on when the incident was reported in the media for documentation purposes.
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
