Hindu families targeted for religious conversion through coercion and material inducements by Christian evangelist
Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India 
11 May, 2025
Case Summary
In Shiv Vihar Colony of Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, a Hindu man, named Shivkant Kashyap, was being pressured to convert to Christianity by Christian evangelists. Furthermore, there were other Hindu families as well in the area who were targeted for religious conversion, through deception, by Christian evangelists under the guise of prayer meetings that were being held at a local house. It was reported that every Sunday, men, women, and children were seen gathering at a house in Shiv Vihar colony. People gathered there in what appeared to be prayer meetings, where they were advised to read the Bible and recite the word of God. Suspicions arose among the locals and various Hindu organisations, and upon inquiry, it turned out religious conversions were going on under the guise of prayer meetings. They found that people suffering from various physical, mental, and financial issues were lured with promises of money and treatment. These people were coerced into changing their religion under the guise of receiving financial support. The house, where these conversions were happening was owned by T Suryarao. Further investigation revealed that Suryarao, along with associates Alka Joseph, T Tabitha Rao, and T Simon Rao, were operating a conversion racket. As of the date of writing this report, the police have arrested the four accused for engaging in religious conversion activities.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of: - Predatory proselytisation. Within it, the sub-category selected is: - Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination, with the sub-category being: - 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. The second sub-category selected here 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 third sib-category 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. This case has been added to the tracker because a Hindu man, along with other Hindu families, was systematically targeted with the aim of inducing disaffection towards their own religion and subtly encouraging acceptance of Christianity. The use of a prayer gathering as a cover suggests that the individual involved may have been using indirect methods to lure or convince individuals into conversion, possibly targeting vulnerable individuals by exploiting their emotional, social, or religious needs. Moreover, vulnerable people who were suffering from physical, mental or financial issues were being lured by material inducements such as financial aid, healthcare assistance, and emotional support. These tactics do not reflect a genuine or voluntary change of faith but rather a calculated and predatory strategy of exploitation. 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 such as money or jobs. These tactics are designed not as acts of charity but as tools to engineer religious change under the guise of social upliftment, particularly among vulnerable and underprivileged communities. This pattern of coercion and conversion through inducement shows that the conversions were a result of manipulation and deceit. Thus, this case reflects religiously motivated hate crimes rooted in an underlying animosity towards the Hindu identity, exploiting vulnerabilities to alienate individuals from their Hindu faith. Hence, this case has been added to the tracker.
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
