Hindu families targeted for forced religious conversion through inducements and manipulation in Jammu and Kashmir
Punch, Jammu and Kashmir, India 
20 February, 2026
Case Summary
In the Nowshera area of Poonch district, Jammu and Kashmir, Hindu families who were poor and from the Dalit community were targeted for forced religious conversions by members of a non-Hindu community. The perpetrators offered Hindus inducements and misled them into converting. This came to light when social activist and Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Sanam Raina stated that organisations belonging to certain communities misled members of economically weaker and Dalit communities and converted them to another religion. It was stated that poor Hindu families were lured and influenced through inducements and manipulative, misleading techniques. The activities took place at a community hall constructed on state land. No specific individual victim was named in the report. Such conversion activities had remained calm for about one year but had now resumed. The perpetrators particularly targeted poor and Dalit Hindus for conversions. Sanam Raina demanded that the administration conduct an investigation into the matter and take strict action. He also warned that protests would be organised if timely steps were not taken by the authorities.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category here is "Predatory Proselytisation". The sub-category here 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. Another sub-category this case qualifies for is "Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination''. 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 was a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime, as the perpetrators targeted economically weaker and Dalit Hindu families in the Nowshera area of Poonch district, Jammu and Kashmir, for forced religious conversion. By offering inducements such as financial aid and material benefits, they preyed on these vulnerable families' desperate circumstances, exploiting their economic hardship and social marginalisation to erode their Hindu faith. This predatory use of inducements transformed vulnerable households into unwilling targets, stripping away their agency and sacred traditions under the guise of charity, which exposed a calculated contempt for Hinduism's resilience among the poor and marginalised. Such exploitation of victims' vulnerability for conversion was not mere persuasion but a dehumanising assault on their dignity, preying on poverty to dismantle Hindu identity and impose an alien faith, unequivocally marking it as a hate crime rooted in religious superiority. The perpetrators further misled these Hindus into converting to Christianity through manipulation and deceitful techniques at a community hall on state land, weaving false promises and psychological coercion to shatter their trust in their ancestral beliefs. This insidious manipulation disregarded the families' profound cultural roots, treating their faith as disposable and inferior, while cunningly amplifying their insecurities to force spiritual surrender. By orchestrating such calculated deception, the perpetrators revealed their animosity towards the Hindu faith and resilience, manipulation and lies to obliterate generations of devotion and subjugate entire Hindu families, cementing the offence as a religiously motivated hate crime that sought to humiliate and erase the Hindu presence among the most vulnerable. In this case, even though the identity of perpetrators remains unknown, the actions meet the parameters of a hate crime. Therefore, it is being added to the hate crime database of the tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records dates of incidents based on when the crime occurred rather than when it was reported in the media. However, in this case, media reports did not state the exact date when the crime occurred. Therefore, the date when it was published, 21 February 2026, was selected as the indicative incident date for documentation purposes only.
Case Status
Complaint not filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Unknown
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
