Hindus brainwashed to convert to Christianity during a prayer meeting in Agra, Uttar Pradesh
Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India 
9 February, 2023
Case Summary
In Khadiya village, Agra, Hindus underwent brainwashing for religious conversion during prayer meetings organised by Christian missionaries for the past three years (2023). The perpetrators even claimed to cure the mental illness of their sister through Christian prayers. According to media reports, this came to light when a Christian religious prayer meeting was organised on 10 February 2026 at the residence of village residents Devendra, son of Sultan, and Laxman, son of Sultan, since 2023. Initially, the villagers did not object, considering it a normal religious event. However, in recent days, the villagers grew suspicious and learned of forced conversions taking place in the meetings. Upon receiving information about forced conversion activities occurring through a prayer meeting, a large number of villagers arrived at the scene. They protested against the religious gathering. Amidst the commotion, the women attendees who had come from outside the village left in their vehicles. Sultan's 19-year-old daughter, Durgesh, suffered from mental illness. Fearing she might be possessed by ghosts, the perpetrators and their family conducted a spiritual discourse for her well-being and used this pretext to convert other Hindus. Upon receiving information about the incident, police arrived at the scene, and villagers complained about the conversion activities. The police stated that a thorough investigation would be conducted, and necessary action would be taken based on the facts.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category selected in this case is- Predatory Proselytisation. The sub-category selected 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 sub-category selected here is - Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination, with the tertiary category selected being- 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 has been added to the tracker because Hindu villagers were brainwashed to convert to Christianity by the Christian perpetrators in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Firstly, the victims were lured for conversion under the guise of a prayer/religious meeting. What was presented as a religious prayer gathering inside a house was in reality a covert attempt at religious conversion. These were not genuine community prayers but calculated efforts to exploit the trust of Hindus and manipulate them into abandoning their faith. By conducting such gatherings, the Christian missionaries sought to manipulate vulnerable Hindus, taking advantage of their emotional and social circumstances to push them towards conversion. Also, the nature of the conversion efforts and the wider impact on the Hindu community all indicated a targeted action against Hindus as a collectivity. When individuals or groups focus their efforts on converting members of a particular religion, in this case, Hindus, then they demonstrate a fundamental disregard for the Hindu faith. Conversion, especially when not based on personal conviction but rather on external persuasion or pressure, is not simply about sharing a different belief system. It was an attempt to undermine the values, traditions, and identity of the Hindu community. In this context, the Christian perpetrators specifically targeted Hindus, which demonstrated a lack of respect for Hinduism and its followers. Such actions are carried out to strip Hindu victims of their faith, making it a religiously motivated crime. Secondly, the perpetrators, Devendra and Laxman, sons of Sultan, deliberately used their 19-year-old sister Durgesh's mental illness as a pretext to lure Hindus into conversion through calculated inducement. By claiming that she was possessed by ghosts and spirits, the perpetrators' family claimed Christian prayers could cure her severe mental condition and drive away these supernatural entities, drawing vulnerable Hindus to prayer meetings over three years with promises of healing. This created a powerful communal enticement, publicly showcasing Durgesh's case as proof of Christianity's superiority in delivering relief from mental torment and evil spirits that Hindu practices could not address. By tying conversion directly to this tangible family crisis, they systematically induced attendees to question and abandon their Hindu faith, fostering a narrative where spiritual deliverance demanded religious defection, even if not every participant converted immediately. Third, this approach amounted to brazen brainwashing and manipulation, exploiting deep-seated cultural fears of ghosts and spirits to psychologically coerce Hindus away from their beliefs. Over repeated gatherings, the perpetrators reinforced the false narrative that only Christian rituals could cure mental illnesses like Durgesh's and banish possessing entities, normalising conversion as the path to safety and well-being while eroding trust in Hindu traditions. By parading the family member's condition as a staged victory for Christianity, they instilled dependency, doubt, and emotional manipulation, turning a personal tragedy into a predatory tool for mass influence. This insidious tactic revealed calculated religious animosity, designed to dismantle Hindu identity through deception and control masked as miraculous intervention. The fact that these conversion events unfolded over three years since 2023 reveals a deliberate, sustained pattern of targeting Hindus in Khadiya village for religious conversion, demonstrating the perpetrators' calculated intent to erode the Hindu population and alter the area's religious demographics, thereby underscoring the severe religious motivation behind the crime. The Christian faith, by its very theological foundations, places a strong emphasis on proselytisation. In pursuit of conversion objectives, Christian evangelists often employ unethical means, ranging from psychological pressure and misinformation to inducements such as money or jobs. This systematic attempt to erode the religious foundation of individuals and replace it with allegiance to another faith reflects deep religious malice and animus against the Hindu identity. Because the core motivation of the act stems from hostility toward the victims' religion, it meets the threshold of a hate crime. Therefore, this case is being added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the date of an incident based on when the crime or victims' ordeal actually began, rather than when it was reported by the media or recently surfaced. In this case, none of the media reports stated the exact date when the victims' ordeal began. It stated that the conversion events had started in 2023, and the recent prayer meeting occurred on 10 February 2026. Therefore, an indicative incident date of 10 February 2023 is being recorded to document this case.
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
