150 Hindu residents lured with inducements for Christian conversion; perpetrators denigrate Hindu deities

Case ID : d327a47 | Location : Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 28 February, 2026

Case ID : d327a47

Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India

28 February, 2026

150 Hindu residents lured with inducements for Christian conversion; perpetrators denigrate Hindu deities

Predatory Proselytisation

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement

Attempting to convert/converting by denigrating Hinduism

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Case Summary

In the Katora Talab area of Raipur, approximately 150 Hindu residents were targeted and offered inducements for religious conversion by Christian evangelists. The perpetrators also denigrated Hindu deities and threatened those who opposed them. The incident occurred on 1 March 2026 when a healing meeting/Changai Sabha was organised at the Divine Café in Raipur. According to the complaint submitted to the police by Yogesh Bariha, a member of a Hindu organisation, the healing meeting was used to convert Hindu residents to Christianity. The accused offered inducements such as employment opportunities, access to government jobs, medical treatment, and financial assistance in order to convert Hindus. They also denigrated Hindu deities, declaring Jesus Christ to be greater than God and promoted Christianity as the greatest religion. When some people protested against these, they were pushed and abused. The complainant stated that individuals identified as Saifeen Masih, Amin Christian, Jacob Das, Shrikant Manhar, and Uday Prasad introduced themselves during the meeting and said the programme had been organised by Jacob Das from Balodabazar. The participants were addressed with sermons centred on Christian teachings, and efforts were made to persuade attendees to change their faith. Upon receiving information about the meeting, Yogesh Bariha and other members of Hindu organisations reached the cafe and objected to the propagation of Christianity and the declaration that Jesus Christ was superior to Hindu deities. A heated exchange followed between the two groups, during which slogans were raised, and tensions escalated inside the premises. Slogans of “Jai Shri Ram” were raised during the confrontation, and the situation deteriorated into chaos, causing panic among the women and girls present at the meeting. The Hindu organisation promptly informed the police about the incident. As the police arrived at the scene, some individuals left the venue, while four persons, identified as Saifeen, Amin, Uday, and Shrikant, were arrested for questioning. The police evacuated people from the cafe and initiated further action in connection with the incident.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. Within it, the sub-category selected 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 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. The other 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 - 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. The other sub-category selected 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. This case has been added to the tracker because 150 Hindu residents in Raipur were targeted and offered inducements for religious conversion under the guise of a healing meeting by Christian evangelists. Firstly, Hindu residents were lured into conversion under the guise of a healing meeting/Changai sabha. The Changai Sabha format, often described publicly as a faith healing gathering, is a well-recognised tool in organised Christian proselytisation networks. These meetings usually employ songs, testimonies, and emotionally charged prayer sessions to influence and induce vulnerable individuals without openly declaring the underlying objective. The absence of transparency is itself central to the method. People attend believing they are seeking comfort, healing or spiritual support, only to be gradually drawn into teachings that undermine their own religious identity and introduce them to the Christian framework presented as the only path to relief. Secondly, Hindu residents were also offered inducements in the form of employment opportunities, access to government jobs, medical treatment, and financial assistance in order to convert them. Offering incentives or making false promises, especially when directed at vulnerable individuals in need, shows that these incentives are not acts of kindness or charity. Instead, they are calculated moves to exploit vulnerable Hindus because of their religion. By providing inducements in exchange for conversion, the accused were effectively blackmailing those who might have been desperate for assistance or hope. Such instances are seen in many cases where members of Christian missionary groups target socially and economically vulnerable Hindus to further their agenda of religious conversions. This form of coercion strips people of their agency and dignity and results in coerced conversions. These are not random or isolated incidents, but rather cases deeply rooted in religious animosity towards Hindu victims Thirdly, the perpetrators declared that Jesus Christ to be greater than God and promoted Christianity as the greatest religion, thereby denigrating Hindu deities and Hinduism. This goes beyond religious debate or proselytisation; it constitutes an act of incitement and insult directed at the core beliefs of the Hindu community. Such remarks are designed to demean and undermine the faith of Hindus and intend to create an inferiority complex in the minds of the victims against their own faith. This fosters an environment of hostility and disrespect towards the Hindu community and Hindu deities. These acts of insulting Hinduism stem from Christian theology, which harbours disdain and hatred for polytheistic faiths, and which categorises Hindus as ‘polytheists’, thereby fostering hatred against them. Such actions make the religiously motivated nature of the crime even more evident. Fourth, the act of pushing and verbally abusing those who opposed the conversion efforts demonstrated targeted hostility rooted in religious identity. The confrontation did not arise from a personal dispute but from objections raised by Hindu attendees to the denigration of their deities and the attempts at religious conversion. When individuals were physically manhandled and subjected to abuse specifically because they resisted changing their faith, the conduct reflected animosity directed at them as members of a particular religious community. Such actions went beyond mere disagreement and indicated an attempt to intimidate and silence individuals on the basis of their religion, thereby meeting the characteristics of a religiously motivated hate crime. The Christian faith, by its theological foundations, places a strong emphasis on proselytisation. In pursuit of conversion objectives, Christian evangelists often employ unethical means, ranging from prayer meetings and misinformation to inducements such as money, jobs or healing illnesses. Such tactics to enforce Christianity on Hindus highlight the religiously motivated nature of the crime. Therefore, this case is being added to the hate crime database of the tracker. Given that the incident involved a structured attempt to propagate Christianity among Hindus within the intention of converting them, this case has been included in the tracker. Disclaimer: The incident has been reported with differing dates in media coverage. Dainik Bhaskar dated the incident as 2 March 2026, whereas Navbharat Times reported the incident as having occurred on 1 March 2026. For the purpose of documentation clarity and consistency within the tracker, the earlier date, 1 March 2026, has been adopted as the date of the incident.