Hindu family coerced to convert to Christianity under pretext of curing illnesses; victims pressured to discard Hindu deities from their home
Kondagaon, Chhattisgarh, India 
18 December, 2025
Case Summary
In Kondagaon district, Chhattisgarh, Tarun Kunjam, a young tribal Hindu man, and his family were coerced into converting to Christianity under the pretext of curing illnesses by four Christians, Kamla Kashyap, Arun Chauhan, Santosh Kashyap, and Dulari Bai. The victims were also pressured to discard all the idols and images of Hindu deities kept in their homes. According to media reports, while travelling by an auto, Tarun spoke about his family's problems, including his daughter being very ill, to a vehicle driver named Kamla Kashyap, who offered to help and asked for his phone number. Tarun provided his details, believing the offer to be sincere. He did not realise at the time that Kamla was a Christian. Subsequently, on Friday, 19 December 2025, Kamla and three other perpetrators, Arun Chauhan, Santosh Kashyap, and Dulari Bai, visited Tarun's home. They pressured him and his family to adopt Christianity immediately and remove the idols and images of Hindu deities, claiming this would end all their life problems. They asked the victims to convert before Christmas celebrations. When Tarun realised that they intended to compel him and his family to convert, he felt alarmed and rejected the pressure. Tarun informed his friends and neighbours, and they confronted the group. With community backing and the support of Hindu organisations such as Bajrang Dal, the four Christians were brought to the local police station. Tarun filed a complaint detailing how they had attempted to induce his family to change their religion by exploiting their distress. Police detained the four for questioning and began an investigation. The accused claimed that they had been invited to the family's home. However, Tarun Kunjam denied this claim, stating that he had not invited anyone. Following the incident, Bajrang Dal and tribal community leaders visited the police station and demanded strict action against the accused. They also opposed a Christian community rally scheduled for 25 December 2025.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category selected in this case is- Predatory Proselytisation. While the sub-category selected under it 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. The other 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. The other subcategory selected is- 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. This case is a clear instance of an anti-Hindu hate crime as the Christian perpetrators exploited the Hindu family's vulnerabilities by claiming that converting to Christianity would cure their daughter's illness and solve all their other problems. This predatory proselytisation attempt preyed on Tarun Kunjam's desperation as a father watching his daughter suffer, using false promises of health and relief as bait. Such inducements were not acts of kindness but deliberate manipulation and exploitation to strip the family of their Hindu faith, turning their pain into a weapon for forced conversion. The perpetrators' assertion that the daughter's disease would be cured and all their other family problems would be solved only if the family converted to Christianity was deeply manipulative. By wielding these malicious tactics, they targeted the vulnerable Hindu family, revealing underlying religious animosity. This showed utter disregard for the family's Hindu identity and a desire to impose Christianity through coercion, driven by a sense of religious supremacy and anti-Hindu prejudice. The demand that the family discard all their Hindu deities amounted to a blatant denigration of the Hindu faith. Hindu deities, idols, images, and symbols hold profound spiritual significance, deeply cherished by devotees who revere them as divine. Pressuring Tarun and his family to throw away these sacred elements was an offensive assault on their beliefs, aimed at erasing their religious heritage and identity by any means necessary. Such acts of denigration of Hinduism and its deities to push forced conversions constitute a blatant anti-Hindu hate crime. Such acts of predatory proselytisation constitute a clear instance of anti-Hindu hate crime, as the perpetrators exploited the family's faith identity and targeted them for forced conversion out of doctrinal animosity towards Hinduism. Therefore, this qualifies as a religiously motivated hate crime and has been added to the Hinduphobia Tracker's Hate Crime Database. Disclaimer: The media reports state that the victim, Tarun Kunjam and his entire family were targeted for forced Christian conversion. However, the exact number of family members has not been specified. It only reports Tarun Kunjam and his sick daughter. Therefore, the victim count has been selected as two victims. This is recorded for documentation purposes only and is a conservative estimate.
Victim Details
Total Victim
2
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 1
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 2
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 0
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 1
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
