Case Summary

In Chanakyapuri, Sehore, Madhya Pradesh, Hindus were targeted for conversion. They were enticed with money and promises of miraculous cures for illness. According to media reports, a Christian prayer meeting took place at a private residence where Hindu attendees were offered incentives to adopt Christianity. During the gathering, a man named Babbar Khaam held a Bible and tried to persuade Hindus to convert. The situation escalated after local Hindu organisations alerted the police to ongoing conversion activities. More than a dozen Hindu locals were persuaded to participate in the Christian meeting at the residence. The reports also revealed the involvement of a government employee posted at the district hospital outpost. This employee was absent from duty and was instead present at the prayer meeting. Even Policeman Virendra Ahirwar was also identified among those present. Virendra claimed that he had been reformed because of Lord Jesus, stating, “Lord Jesus Christ is the son of God. He sacrificed himself for our sins. I used to take bribes, was a sinner, a drunkard, and flirted with women day and night. I harassed my parents and beat my wife. I was the number one adulterer. Lord Jesus freed me from sin, gave me salvation, and changed my entire life over the past eight years. He freed me from sin. I come with my family to worship the same Lord. Lord Jesus does not change anyone’s religion; he purifies sinners. I was a sinner, he purified me.” Another Hindu attendee, Pravesh Malviya, stated, “We come here to worship God.” Upon arrival at the scene, the police encountered protests from local Hindu organisations, resulting in a tense atmosphere. The police recovered several Christian religious texts (Bibles) from the scene, which had been used to encourage conversion. Nevertheless, order was restored, and the Kotwali police commenced an investigation. The police confirmed that any legal action would follow only after verification of facts and the collection of evidence.

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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/ attempting 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 in this case is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary category selected 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, Hindus were lured into converting to Christianity under the pretext of monetary incentives and promises of ‘curing diseases’. The nature of these conversion attempts and their broader impact on the Hindu community clearly indicate a targeted campaign against Hindus as a group. When individuals or organisations focus their efforts solely on converting members of a particular faith, here, Hindus, it displays a fundamental disregard for Hinduism. Conversion efforts that hinge on persuasion, pressure or inducements, rather than genuine conviction, are not simply the sharing of beliefs; they are a direct attempt to undermine the values, traditions, and identity of the Hindu community. It is evident that the Christian perpetrator deliberately targeted Hindus, which illustrates a lack of respect for their faith and practices. The use of financial rewards to encourage Christian conversion shows that these actions were not acts of charity or compassion. Rather, they represent calculated attempts to exploit vulnerable Hindus precisely because of their religious identity. By offering inducements, the perpetrator engaged in emotional blackmail of Hindus who may have been desperate for support. Similar patterns are observed where members of Christian missionary groups specifically target socially and economically vulnerable Hindus, furthering their agenda of religious conversion. This kind of coercion profoundly diminishes the agency and dignity of Hindus and enforces forced conversion. These are deliberate, systematic actions, not random or isolated events, intended to undermine the Hindu faith, convince Hindus to abandon their religion, and compel them to accept Christianity. Such acts are deeply rooted in religious animosity towards Hindu victims, making them clear instances of religiously motivated crimes. Additionally, the tactic of using promises of miraculous cures as an inducement for conversion is itself a form of exploitation. Hindus suffering from chronic illnesses were coerced into converting, further proving that the Christian perpetrators acted with the intent to strip Hindus of their religious identity. This underscores the religiously motivated nature of this incident. Such actions are a result of deep-seated religious animosity towards Hindus and Hinduism, making it a religiously motivated crime. Furthermore, many Hindus were brainwashed into believing that their difficulties were resolved once they began to believe in Jesus. This represented a coordinated effort to manipulate Hindus to facilitate conversions. The Christian perpetrator also actively attempted to indoctrinate Hindu victims by distributing Christian religious texts and literature. Using the scriptures or literature of one faith to deliberately target and manipulate members of another, with the explicit intention of religious conversion, constitutes a direct attack on the Hindu faith. Such actions were designed to violate and undermine the core beliefs of Hindu victims, demonstrating clear religious hostility towards Hindus and their identity. These tactics also reveal that this was not an isolated incident of evangelism, but rather part of a wider, organised operation aimed at driving religious conversions. When Christian religious material is exploited to abuse trust, foster uncertainty, and misrepresent Hindu beliefs, all to coerce conversions in a systematic way, it amounts to a religiously motivated offence. The Christian perpetrator did not focus on a single Hindu; instead, several Hindus were deliberately targeted. This pattern of luring Hindus with incentives and subjecting them to psychological manipulation is a stark example of a religiously motivated crime. Such actions were intended to undermine the religious and cultural identity of Hindus through manipulation, coercion, and improper means. These incidents made it clear that the conversions were neither isolated nor accidental—they formed part of a calculated and targeted strategy to convert Hindus to Christianity. By concentrating specifically on Hindus, these Christian evangelists profiled vulnerable individuals and systematically sought to erase their Hindu identity. These instances of targeted proselytisation activities stem from inherent hostility towards the victims' professed faith since Abrahamic faiths believe that any non-adherent to their faith is subject to being dehumanised till they convert, making it a religiously motivated crime against Hindus. Since this case meets multiple parameters of a religiously motivated attack against Hindus, it is being added to the hate crime database.