School Principal takes non-Muslim students to Mosque to attend event organised by banned Islamist organization Jamaat-e-Islami Hind on the pretext of school workshop where students are forced to perform Muslim rituals
Davorlim, Goa, India 
10 September, 2023
Case Summary
Keshav Smriti Higher Secondary School in Goa was marred with controversy after its principal was accused of taking the non-Muslim students of the school to a mosque in Dabolim on the pretext of a school workshop and making them offer namaz in the mosque and performing other Islamic activities. Hindu organizations raised objections over the incident, stating that the program was part of a plot to brainwash young children and carry out religious conversions. The program was organized at the Mosque by Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. Hindu organizations further have also revealed that the now-suspended Principal, Shankar Gaonkar, is involved in anti-national activities. They also reiterated that the organizer of the said program is associated with PFI. In this program, the students were not only made to offer Namaz but also the girl students were pressured to wear hijab.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
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 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 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 transmits the 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 indoctrinated 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, the victims who were being pressured to wear hijab and read Namaz, with the intention to brainwash into converting their religion were children, which essentially means that the element of consent and genuine change of conscience was missing ab initio. Since the underlying offence is against children of a specific faith and involves indoctrination and illegal conversion, this case is being categorised under the primary category of Predatory Proselytisation. The distinct components of brainwashing and indoctrination demonstrate the perpetrator's bias against the Hindu faith and their deliberate attempt to alienate the victims from their religious identity.
Victim Details
Total Victim
22
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 3
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 19
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 22
Age Group
- Minor 22
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Others
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
