Tribal Hindu families in Chattisgarh targeted and converted through pressure and inducement by foreign-funded NGOs and missionaries
Kabeerdham, Chhattisgarh, India 
26 February, 2026
Case Summary
Tribal Hindu families residing in the forest regions of the Pandaria assembly constituency in Kabirdham district, Chhattisgarh, were subjected to predatory proselytisation by foreign funded non governmental organisations and missionary groups. Members of these families were converted from Hinduism through inducement and pressure. More than 400 tribal Hindu citizens across several villages in the constituency were affected. The tribal Hindu families lived in remote forest areas around Neur, Kui Kukdur, Damgarh and Kulhidonri villages. According to MLA Bhavna Bohra, those responsible exploited the lack of resources and limited access to government schemes among these communities. Their geographic isolation and economic vulnerability made them particularly susceptible to such conversion efforts. Around 400 tribal Hindu citizens across the Pandaria assembly constituency were converted from Hinduism through inducement and pressure. Of these, 115 were from villages around the Neur area, 70 from the Kui Kukdur area, 50 from Damgarh village and 165 from Kulhidonri village. The conversions were carried out by taking advantage of the limited access these tribal Hindu families had to state welfare schemes and basic facilities. In response, MLA Bhavna Bohra organised a Ghar Wapsi ceremony in Kulhidonri village, during which 165 tribal Hindu families returned to Hinduism. She also announced that the Chhattisgarh Dharma Swatantrya Bill 2026, intended to regulate fraudulent and coercive religious conversions, would be tabled in the forthcoming Assembly budget session.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The primary category here is "Predatory Proselytisation". The sub-category here is "Conversions/ 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. Another sub-category that this case qualifies for is "Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion". Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, including threats and coercion. Harassment and threats, in this case, find their root on discriminatory grounds which has the effect of nullifying a person’s rights or infringing upon his freedom to exercise his right specifically owing to the victim’s religious identity. Verbal and physical threats and psychological or physical harassment are often used against Hindu victims because they choose to practice their professed religion. Religious harassment also includes forced and involuntary conversions by harassment, threats or coercion. Coercion includes intimidatory tactics like force-feeding a Hindu victim beef to convert to another religion, forceful circumcision etc. In several cases documented, non-Hindu perpetrators or those who harbour specific animosity towards Hinduism, harass victims simply based on their religious identity. Such cases often also include harassment to ensure the Hindu victim abandons his/her professed religion and adopts the religion of the perpetrator. Such cases where Hindu victims are harassed to convert to the perpetrator’s religion are rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. One other subcategory that this case falls under is "Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation and subtle indoctrination". The tertiary category here is "Pattern of targetting 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. This case qualified as a hate crime on the basis that tribal Hindu families in the remote forest regions of Pandaria, Chhattisgarh were deliberately targeted for religious conversion through inducement and coercion. The perpetrators, identified as foreign funded NGOs and missionary organisations, specifically sought out Hindu families and exploited their economic vulnerability and geographic isolation to carry out conversions. The targeting was directed exclusively at Hindu families on the basis of their religious identity. The conversions were carried out through material inducements, taking advantage of the tribal Hindu families’ limited access to resources and government schemes. Economically vulnerable Hindu families were identified and offered inducements as a means of persuading them to abandon their faith. This constituted a deliberate and calculated effort to convert Hindus by exploiting their material circumstances rather than through open theological engagement. The tribal Hindu families were not approached through transparent religious dialogue but were subjected to sustained pressure and coercion. Continuous efforts were made to distance them from their Hindu faith and traditions. The combination of inducements and pressure demonstrated the use of multiple methods to secure conversions, extending beyond persuasion into coercion directed at individuals on the basis of their religion. The scale and spread of the conversions across multiple villages, affecting more than 400 tribal Hindu citizens in Neur, Kui Kukdur, Damgarh and Kulhidonri, indicated a systematic and organised campaign targeting Hindu communities in the region. The actions were sustained across geographically dispersed areas, reflecting a pattern of identifying and targeting Hindu families for conversion. The approach adopted involved exploiting vulnerability, building dependency, and applying prolonged pressure over time. The tribal Hindu families, due to their geographic isolation and limited access to information and state support, were particularly susceptible to such sustained influence. Their economic dependence and social circumstances were used to facilitate their gradual disengagement from their Hindu faith and cultural identity. Given that this case met the parameters of a religiously motivated hate crime, it was added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia tracker.
Victim Details
Total Victim
400
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 0
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 400
Caste
- SC/ST 400
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 0
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 400
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Unknown
Perpetrators Range
N/A
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
