32 Hindus lured with money and converted to Christianity

Case ID : f6647d3 | Location : Muradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 25 February, 2025

Case ID : f6647d3

Muradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India

25 February, 2025

32 Hindus lured with money and converted to Christianity

Predatory Proselytisation

Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement

Case Summary

In Farhedi village, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, 32 Hindus were lured by money and facilities. They were converted to Christianity by a few members of Christian missionary groups. The Christian missionary group members converted seven people from two families to Christianity. They were made to stop worshipping Hindu deities and were asked to remove their pictures and idols from their homes. In another Christian program, 25 more Hindus were converted to Christianity. During this event, a few locals recorded this event and uploaded it on social media. The locals found out that the two Hindu families had converted to Christianity, when they saw Christian religious rituals being performed at their houses, and they found Christian religious books and symbols from their houses. This caused a turmoil in the village and the Hindus organised a panchayat at the local Shiva temple and the locals counselled the 32 Hindus who had converted to Christianity. The converts apologised and agreed to revert to Hinduism. All the reverts along with the Hindu villagers performed rituals at the Shiva temple, and the RSS member Rohit Chandra said that strict action would be taken against the members of Christian missionary groups, who tried to convert Hindus to Christianity.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case is being added to the category 'Predatory Proselytisation' under the sub-category '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. In this case, the Christian extremists specifically exploited the vulnerabilities of Hindus to disenfranchise them from their professed faith. Christian extremists often attempt to convert vulnerable Hindus by exploiting their poverty. Such conversion is a result of not only the deep seated animosity and hostility towards Hindus and their faith, but also, a manifestation of the manipulation employed by extremists to victimised unsuspected and vulnerable Hindus. The conversion which follows the inducement is not a result of a genuine change of faith but that of manipulation and exploitation. For that reason, this case is being added to the Hinduphobia tracker.