Hindu couple pressurised to convert to Christianity, husband commits suicide
Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India 
19 February, 2025
Case Summary
In Madurai, Tamil Nadu, a Hindu couple named Kamala and Ayyappa were forced to convert to Christianity by the father-in-law of Kamala. Disturbed by the pressure of conversion, Ayyappa committed suicide. Ayyappa ran a stationery shop in Kochadai. The couple were married according to Hindu rituals and had faced the pressure to convert since 2018. According to Kamala, her father-in-law along with Christian pastors were pressuring her and Ayyappa to convert to Christianity. Kamala filed a police complaint where she said that her father-in-law, Nagalingam, had pressurised her and her husband to convert to Christianity, allegedly with the support of others. She accused Kingston Paul, who ran a church in Nataraj Nagar in Madurai, of being involved. She further alleged Pastor Sundaramoorthy and his wife, and two other individuals from DPM, visited their home with Nagalingam. The group reportedly forced them to participate in Christian prayers and warned them of dire consequences if they refused, causing severe mental distress. On 20th February 2025, Nagalingam and Kingston Paul conducted a Christian prayer outside Ayyappa's shop. Shortly after this, Ayyappa committed suicide. Kamala found a suicide note written by her husband, in which he named several individuals who harassed and pressured Ayappa and Kamala to convert to Christianity. Kamala filed a police complaint and asked the police to take strict action against the accused.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the category- Predatory Proselytisation. Under this, the first sub-category selected is- Harassment, threat, 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 second sub-category selected here is- Suicide after pressure to convert. When there is pressure, threat or coercion employed upon the Hindu victim to convert to a different religion, in several cases, owing to the humiliation or pressure/threat, the victim commits suicide. In such cases, the pressure/threat/intimidation/coercion/violence itself is driven by animosity towards the victim’s Hindu faith. The pressure/threat that is employed leads to the Hindu victim taking his own life. Since the victim’s faith is at the heart of the pressure to convert and the ensuing suicide by the victim, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. This incident in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, constitutes a case of religious coercion leading to tragic consequences. The persistent pressure exerted by Kamala's father-in-law, along with Christian pastors, to forcefully convert the couple to Christianity ultimately resulted in Ayyappa taking his own life. Further, the couple was subjected to warnings of ‘dire consequences’ if they refused to convert, an intimidation tactic commonly associated with forced religious conversion. Moreover, the Hindu man explicitly mentioned the names of those responsible for coercing him, tying his extreme distress directly to the forced conversion attempts. The coercion, psychological distress, and threats faced by the couple highlight a clear pattern of predatory proselytisation. Since the motivating factor of the crime was the religious identity of the victim and the intention of the accused to disenfranchise him from it, the case has been categorised as a hate crime.
Victim Details
Total Victim
2
Deceased
1
Gender
- Male 1
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 2
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 2
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
