Hindu girl dies under mysterious circumstances; family says she died of conversion pressure from a Christian neighbour

Case ID : d88293f | Location : Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 7 February, 2023

Case ID : d88293f

Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India

7 February, 2023

Hindu girl dies under mysterious circumstances; family says she died of conversion pressure from a Christian neighbour

Predatory Proselytisation

Suicide after pressure to convert

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Case Summary

In Solanki Nagar in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, a 24-year-old disabled girl identified as Kajal Yadav suspiciously died of depression. Kajal’s family said that a person residing in front of their house was pressuring them to convert to Christianity and also offered to help them with jobs and other things. Khushboo, the deceased's sister, said that despite the pressure, they did not leave Sanatan Dharma. They were often harassed by their neighbour when they stepped out. Speeches related to Christianity were played at a very loud volume when there was a Puja at their house. The accused also hurled eggs and meat at the victim's house. One day when the accused had an argument with Gopal, the victim's father, he called the CM Helpline and filed a case against him at Vijay Nagar police station. Following this, there was a tense atmosphere at home; Kajal became depressed and stopped eating. On February 8, the Kajal fell asleep crying due to the neighbour's mounting pressure to convert to Christianity and did not wake up.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This particular case has been classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under two subcategories under Predatory Proselytisation because of the various distinct components that demonstrate the perpetrator's bias against the Hindu faith and their deliberate attempt to alienate the victims from their Hindu identity. Because of the case's specifics, we have put this case under the prime category: Predatory Proselytization and to narrow down the search further we have chosen the subcategory 'attempting to convert by harassment/threat' under this core category in addition to 'Suicide after pressure to convert'. In this specific case, it is evident from the details that the perpetrator employed intimidation to coerce the Hindu victim to abandon her professed faith and begin practising the alien faith. The accused employed coercion tactics like filing a false case against the victim's father and hurling eggs and meat at the victim's house. Since the motivating factor of the crime was the religious identity of the victim and the intention of the accused to disenfranchise him from it, the case has been categorised as a hate crime. 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 have 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 and forceful circumcision. 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 in an attempt to make the Hindu victim abandon his/her professed religion and adopt the religion of the perpetrator. In this sub-category, we would include cases where the non-Hindu perpetrator harassed, threatened or coerced the victim to convert, however, the Hindu victim did not convert to another faith. Cases where the victim was converted owing to the harassment and threats would be documented in another sub-category. 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. The second sub-category under 'Predatory Proselytisation' relevant in this case is 'Suicide after pressure to convert'. Here, in this case, it is not explicit that the victim committed suicide. It is reported that she died under mysterious circumstances. The victim's family, however, said that she ended her life due to the harassment and pressure to convert to Christianity. We have proceeded to record the case in the Hindu hate tracker under this sub-category as we trust the account given by the victim's family. When there is pressure, threat or coercion employed upon the Hindu victim to convert to a different religion, in several cases, owing to the humiliation or pressure/threat, the victim commits suicide. In such cases, the pressure/threat/intimidation/coercion/violence itself is driven by animosity towards the victim’s Hindu faith. The pressure/threat that is employed leads to the Hindu victim taking his own life. Since the victim’s faith is at the heart of the pressure to convert and the ensuing suicide by the victim, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. This case stands out as an example of a hate crime motivated by religion since the perpetrator used intimidation and pressure to try to get the Hindu victim to abandon her professed religion and accept Christianity. The victim was coerced by the accused in an attempt to force her into conversion. This is obviously done when the offender harbours deep disdain for the victim's professed religion and has a blatant desire for the Hindu victim to adopt his professed religion. The case has been classified as a hate crime since the victim's religious beliefs and the desire to strip her of her religious rights serve as the driving force behind the crime.