Hindu villagers lured for religious conversion under false pretext of healing by Christian missionaries
Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India 
30 August, 2025
Case Summary
In Idripath village of Balrampur district, Chhattisgarh, Hindu villagers, including women, were targeted for conversion under the guise of so-called healing meetings by Christian missionaries. According to reports, these illegal activities were going on in the village for some time, where Hindu villagers were lured under the false promises of healing and miraculous cures. During the Changai Sabha (healing meeting), missionaries claimed that they could make a handicapped person walk and that illness such as back pain could be permanently cured. Hindu organisations, including the BJP Yuva Morcha and the OBC Morcha, received information about the conversion activities and immediately alerted the administration. Acting on the complaint, SDM Karun Dahriya, along with the police, reached the spot and found around 30 women and 35 men had assembled for the healing meeting. Members of Hindu organisations strongly protested against such activities and demanded strict action against those involved. The police arrested the owner of the house where the meeting was being conducted along with another individual. As of the date of this report, legal proceedings were ongoing.
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 inducements. 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. This case has been added to the tracker because it involves a covert proselytisation attempt carried out under the guise of a "healing meeting," wherein economically vulnerable Hindu individuals were being lured into conversion by Christian missionaries. The inducements offered, whether in the form of emotional manipulation, supposed miraculous cures, or promises of material upliftment, were designed to sever the individual from their religious identity and embed them within a non-Hindu religious framework. By providing inducements or promising healing 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. The Christian faith, by its very theological foundations, places a strong emphasis on proselytisation. In pursuit of conversion objectives, Christian evangelists often employ unethical means, ranging from psychological pressure and misinformation to inducements and denigration of Hinduism. These are not random or isolated incidents, but rather premeditated efforts to undermine the Hindu faith, persuade Hindus to discard their own faith, and convert to Christianity. Such acts were deeply rooted in religious animosity towards Hindu victims, and thus, this case was added to the tracker.
Victim Details
Total Victim
65
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 35
- Female 30
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 65
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 65
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
