Case Summary

In Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu man named Harjeet was forcibly converted to Islam by a Muslim Peer Baba known as Chhangur Baba alias Peer Mohammad Ahmad Khan alias Jalaluddin. Abdul Mabdud Raza was an accomplice in the crime. The accused offered Harjeet incentives and subjected him to harassment to persuade him to convert to Islam. According to reports, Chhangur and Mabdud pressured Harjeet to renounce Hinduism and embrace Islam by making false promises of securing him a supervisor’s job in Nagpur. Despite these offers, Harjeet refused to convert. Following his refusal, Chhangur began harassing him by filing false legal cases and resorting to blackmail. Even then, Harjeet stood firm in his decision. Subsequently, the Muslim Peer Baba offered him a monetary incentive of Rs 2.5 lakh and assured him that all false cases against him would be withdrawn if he converted. Under this pressure, Harjeet was forced to adopt Islam. Later, Harjeet decided to return to Hinduism, and he participated in a Gharwapsi event organised by the Vishva Hindu Parishad in Lucknow, where 15 Hindus who had been converted to Islam through coercion, deceit, or incentives were reconverted to Hinduism. Hindu activists, including the National President of the Vishwa Hindu Raksha Parishad, Gopal Rai, stated, “Chhangur Baba and Abdul Mabdud Raza are the main figures behind Islamic conversions in Balrampur. They pressure people and convert them. These individuals receive funding from abroad. There should be an investigation into this.” Reports also indicated that the accused were involved in the murders of Chandan Gupta and Kamlesh Tiwari in Uttar Pradesh and that they had converted 5,000 Hindus to Islam. Following this, news emerged that the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) had busted the massive Islamic conversion racket run by Chhangur Baba. The ATS registered a case against 10 people, including Chhangur Baba and arrested him along with his wife on 5th July 2025. The ATS confirmed that the Muslim accused received foreign funding of Rs 100 crore to carry out illegal conversions of Hindus and other non-Muslims in India. Even his family was involved in the conversions of Hindus and Hindu women to Islam, ATS officials revealed, adding that the accused and his family had Hindu names on their legal documents. Reports also state that Chhangur Baba used to provide money to Muslim men for luring Hindu women, including minors, and converting them to Islam. The Muslim men used to fake their identities and don Hindu names to target Hindu women. Chhangur Baba used to perform Muslim marriages (Nikaah) of these Muslim men with Hindu women whom they lured or forced to convert. The accused Chhangur Baba had also published a book, ‘Shijra-e-Tayyaba’, meaning 'To propagate Islam'. The ATS also revealed that Jalaluddin, aka Chhangur Baba, ran a gang and had a fixed incentive structure for conversions. Rs 15-16 lakh was fixed for conversions of Brahmin, Sikh or Kshatriya women, Rs 10-12 lakhs for OBCs and Rs 8-10 lakhs for other castes. The police also recovered a diary from Jalaluddin's residence containing the names of more than 100 people who could be potential targets of conversion. Notably, Hinduphobia Tracker had documented a case involving Chhangur Baba, where he had encouraged a Muslim man named Meraj to lure a Hindu woman named Aarti by posing as a Hindu. After this, Chhangur, along with the Muslim man, forcibly converted her to Islam and conducted her Nikah as per Islamic customs.

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Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. Within this, the subcategory 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 subcategory 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. The other subcategory selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary category selected in this is- 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 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. In this case, a Hindu man was forcibly converted to Islam by a Muslim Peer and his accomplice. This was not a random incident, but a targeted attack against an individual because of his religious identity. When individuals or groups single out a Hindu individual for conversion due to his/her religious identity, it demonstrates a deep disregard for the Hindu faith. Conversion, especially when it is not a matter of personal conviction but the result of pressure or harassment, is not simply about changing beliefs. It is an attempt to undermine the values, traditions, and identity of the Hindu community itself. In this situation, the Muslim perpetrators deliberately targeted the Hindu man, showing a clear lack of respect for Hinduism and its adherents. The use of incentives by the perpetrators to persuade the Hindu victim to convert to Islam makes it clear that their actions were not motivated by goodwill or compassion. Instead, this was a calculated attempt to exploit the Hindu man because of his religion. Coercion of this kind robs individuals of their agency and dignity, and enforces conversions against their will. These are not isolated events, but deliberate and premeditated efforts to undermine the Hindu faith, to persuade Hindus to abandon their beliefs and convert them to Islam. Such acts are deeply rooted in religious animosity towards Hindus and their faith. In fact, these are common tactics in efforts to influence or manipulate vulnerable individuals into changing their faith. This approach often targets economically disadvantaged groups, offering material benefits such as food, money, or livestock in exchange for conversion. It creates a form of dependency that can alienate individuals from their original faith, as they may feel compelled to convert not out of genuine belief but due to immediate needs or financial pressures. Here, too, the Muslim peer adopted a similar tactic of exploiting the vulnerability of the Hindu man to convert him to Islam. The ordeal did not end there. The Hindu man was subjected to harassment by the perpetrators, who filed false legal cases against him and then blackmailed him, promising to withdraw the cases only if he converted. This form of harassment and coercion is a direct attack on his freedom of religious belief, creating an environment of intimidation and fear. The perpetrators intended to suppress and break the spirit of the Hindu man, forcing him into conversion. Such actions are stark examples of religious intolerance and hatred towards Hindus and their faith. Moreover, it is reported that the main accused, Chhangur Baba, also known as Peer Jalaluddin alias Mohammad Ahmad Khan, had a known history of anti-Hindu activities. He was vocal about turning India into an Islamic nation, a goal that reflects a supremacist mindset rooted in loyalty to the global Ummah (Islamic brotherhood) over one’s own country. Such thinking views India not as a diverse nation but as a Hindu collectivity that must be subdued or replaced. In fact, the very basis of the partition of India was that the Muslims believed that Islam was a nation unto itself, which could not survive with a Hindu collectivity like India. In this worldview, expressing hate toward India is not separate from hating Hindus, because such extremists believe Hindus represent what India stands for. Thus, this case isn’t just about individual extremism, but about a larger ideological hostility towards Hinduism and Hindus, fuelled by transnational religious loyalties. Here, it is also important to note that the accused's actions went far beyond individual cases; he was involved in the forcible conversion of thousands of Hindus, using a mix of coercion, deceit, and incentives. As per reports, he was also receiving foreign funding to convert Hindus to Islam. He also fixed an incentive structure for conversions of Hindu women based on their caste. He paid Muslim men to trap Hindu women and girls and forcibly convert them to Islam. He himself was actively performing nikahs (Islamic marriages) of victimised Hindu women to Muslim men. The police also discovered a list of 100 people who were his future targets. Such acts are not isolated instances; rather, they reflect a targeted and well-calculated effort to change the religious demographics of a region. This is not only an assault on individual freedom but also a direct attack on the Hindu community. Such actions are intended to subjugate and marginalise Hindus, asserting Islamic dominance rooted in hatred and disdain for Hindus and their beliefs. He was also involved in the murders of Hindus such as Kamlesh Tiwari and Chandan Gupta, further demonstrating a pattern of anti-Hindu actions motivated by religious intolerance and hatred. Additionally, even the Hinduphobia Tracker had reported a case involving Chhangur Baba, where he had encouraged a Muslim man named Meraj to lure a Hindu woman named Aarti by posing as a Hindu. After this, Chhangur, along with the Muslim man, forcibly converted her to Islam and conducted her Nikah to Meraj. This showcases a repeated pattern of trapping Hindu women through deceit and forcing them to adopt Islam, making it a clear example of a religiously motivated crime against Hindus. Such acts of violence, combined with the systematic targeting of Hindus for forced conversion, and encouraging forced conversions of Hindu women, reveal the depth of religious animosity the perpetrator held for the Hindus and their faith. Therefore, this case is being added to the hate crime database.