Hindus targeted by Christian missionaries using false healing claims and derogatory remarks against Hindu deities to push conversion
Jhunjhunun, Rajasthan, India 
19 May, 2025
Case Summary
In the Jhunjhunu district, Rajasthan, Christian missionaries were gathering Dalit villagers to encourage them to abandon their traditional faith and convert to Christianity. They offered inducements and criticised Sanatan Dharma. The incident is from Dudhwa village in the Mehada police jurisdiction. Dataram Meghwal, a local resident, submitted a written complaint in which he narrated that religious conversion activities were taking place at the house of Nanadram Meghwal in the village. Upon investigation, police raided the house on Wednesday, finding a crowd of 30 to 35 people assembled. Some attendees were singing praises of Jesus Christ and criticising Sanatan Dharma. The group was inciting villagers against Hindu beliefs, stating that the deities of Sanatan Dharma could not revive the dead. They asserted that drinking water in the name of Jesus Christ would bring the dead back to life and heal the sick. When some neighbourhood members questioned the gathering, disputes arose. Police arrived to manage the situation but encountered abusive behaviour from the group. Following the raid, the police arrested Tinku Masih, Nitesh Masih, Vijay Masih, and Roshan from Shahpura police station in Jaipur rural district, as well as Gaurav Nakwal from Lalsot police station in Dausa district. Among those detained, four were Christians, and one belonged to the Kirar caste. Interrogations revealed attempts to mislead and manipulate villagers into converting religions. Further investigations identified three women involved in the effort to induce conversion alongside the five men.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category - Predatory Proselytisation. The sub-category 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 sub-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. The sub-category selected is - Attempting to convert/converting by denigrating Hinduism. In several cases, Hindus are converted or an attempt is made to convert Hindus by denigrating their faith, Hinduism. In such cases, the Hindus associate with the non-Hindu perpetrators often by choice and then, the attempt to convert them by insulting their faith, showing the faith down etc begins. An example of this would be a non-Hindu gathering where the Hindus are attending the gathering of their own free will. However, once they attend the gathering, there is an explicit attempt to convert them by abusing their faith and hailing the faith of the perpetrator. The denigration of the Hindu faith is often based on misrepresentation of the Hindu faith, its doctrine and scriptures and insult to espoused traditions if not blatant lies about Hindu beliefs and ways. Such conversions or attempts at conversions are driven by animosity towards the Hindu faith and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. The other sub-category selected is - Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination, and within it, 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 qualifies as a hate crime under the inducement category because the targeted community—Dalit Hindus—was approached with a mix of emotional and material enticements intended to sever their ties with their traditional faith. The missionaries held gatherings in a socio-economically vulnerable neighbourhood, deliberately choosing individuals more likely to be swayed by promises of a better life. In this instance, the inducement was not limited to monetary or social benefits but included supernatural claims of miraculous healing, asserting that drinking water in the name of Jesus Christ could cure illness and even revive the dead. Such claims play directly upon the fears and suffering of economically marginalised people who may lack access to proper medical care. The implied message was clear: their traditional religious practices were powerless in the face of suffering, while Christianity alone held the remedy. This tactic exploits the desperation of the ill and the poor, framing conversion as the only path to physical and spiritual well-being. These attempts were not neutral acts of preaching or free religious exchange. They were targeted efforts to detach individuals from their native religious identity by exploiting their vulnerabilities—financial, emotional, and medical. Because the inducement was explicitly aimed at altering religious belief by offering conditional benefits, the religious identity of the victims forms the heart of the crime. This makes the act a clear instance of religiously motivated hate crime, rooted in exploitation and contempt for the victim’s existing faith. Also, this incident fits within the broader understanding of harassment. Statements such as Hindu deities being incapable of performing miracles and Jesus alone being capable of raising the dead or healing the ill are not benign comparisons but humiliating dismissals of deeply held beliefs. These statements are covert threats. This is because these statements imply that if the victims do not convert to Christianity, they will suffer. The core of this event was the systematic denigration of Sanatan Dharma. The missionaries repeatedly made derogatory claims against Hindu beliefs, portraying them as false or ineffective. By arguing that Hindu deities have no power to heal or revive the dead, and by insisting that only Jesus has such powers, they created an atmosphere of religious hostility. Such statements were not framed within theological discourse but were weaponised as tools of ridicule, intended to degrade the Hindu faith in the eyes of the villagers. This tactic of attempting conversion by ridiculing another’s faith reflects a clear animosity towards Hinduism, fulfilling the criteria of a hate crime under this sub-category. In this case, the perpetrators employed systematic brainwashing and manipulation, repeatedly gathering Dalit Hindus in a familiar residential setting to subtly erode their faith in Sanātana Dharma. The process involved praising Jesus while simultaneously denigrating Hindu beliefs, presenting Christianity as superior and miraculous. Over time, this pattern of targeted indoctrination aimed to weaken the community’s attachment to their ancestral faith, fostering disaffection and sowing doubt. Such repeated psychological manipulation, especially when directed at a specific religious group, constitutes predatory proselytisation and reflects a broader, religiously motivated pattern of targeting Hindus, qualifying this case as a hate crime. In conclusion, this incident is a coordinated campaign of religious manipulation, denigration, and coercion, driven by a clear intent to dismantle the faith of the Hindu community. Hence, it is documented in the hate crime database. Disclaimer: The details of this case reveal that about 30-35 people were present in the religious gathering; however, since it does not mention the exact number of victims, we have conservatively added 30 as the victim count in the database.
Victim Details
Total Victim
30
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 0
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 30
Caste
- SC/ST 30
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 0
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 30
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Case sub-judice
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 5 to 10
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
