Hindu youth lured to convert to Christianity under the pretext of 'curing illness' and enticed with money

Case ID : f6649b2 | Location : Ranchi, Jharkhand, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 31 January, 2025

Case ID : f6649b2

Ranchi, Jharkhand, India

31 January, 2025

Hindu youth lured to convert to Christianity under the pretext of 'curing illness' and enticed with money

Predatory Proselytisation

Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Case Summary

In Ranchi, Jharkhand, a Hindu man named Suraj Malhar was pressured to convert to Christianity under the pretext of curing illnesses and enticing them with money. According to news reports, Suraj earned his livelihood through hard labour to support himself and his family. Suraj had been unwell for a while, and he sought treatment at various places without any success. During this time, someone recommended him a Christian pastor named David Lakra for his treatment. Convinced by his claims, Suraj approached the pastor in the hope of receiving treatment. However, instead of medical assistance, he was pressured to convert to Christianity. Pastor David assured him that his illnesses would be cured as soon as he converted. When David failed at this, he then attempted to lure Suraj with money. Reports suggest that in February 2025, the same pastor successfully converted Suraj's brother, Ranthu Malhar, to Christianity. The local villagers were angered by these incidents of religious conversion. According to them, several individuals had converted to Christianity before this. In the same area, Sarju Karmali and his daughter, Namita Karmali had also embraced Christianity. Following their conversion, they visited Suraj's house to persuade him to convert as well. The villagers warned Suraj that if he chose to convert, he would face social boycott. They also recalled that two years ago, many families from the Karmali and Mahali communities had converted to Christianity. However, due to strong opposition from the Hindu villagers, the rate of conversions had significantly declined. Despite this, a resurgence in such conversion activities led to social unrest in the village. Villagers expressed concerns that these ongoing conversion attempts were fostering divisions and resentment within the Hindu community. They feared that if such incidents continued, the social unity of the village might be at risk.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of- Predatory proselytisation. Under this, the first sub-category selected is- Conversion/attempts to convert by inducements. 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 second sub-category selected here 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 exhibits multiple religious markers, highlighting a targeted attempt at religious conversion through coercion and inducements. The exploitation of Suraj Malhar’s illness as a pretext for conversion is a clear case of manipulating faith for proselytisation. By convincing Suraj that embracing Christianity would miraculously cure his ailments, the pastor preyed on his vulnerability, using his physical suffering as leverage to push religious conversion. When this failed, he resorted to monetary inducements, demonstrating a material incentive strategy commonly observed in predatory proselytisation efforts. The case also demonstrates clear harassment tactics used to pressure Hindus into converting to Christianity. Suraj Malhar, who was already in a vulnerable state due to his persistent illness, was subjected to psychological pressure when he approached Pastor David Lakra for treatment. Instead of receiving medical assistance, he was told that the only way to cure his ailments was to embrace Christianity. This exploitation of personal suffering amounts to manipulative harassment, as it placed undue pressure on an individual desperate for relief, coercing him into considering religious conversion under false assurances. When Suraj refused to convert, the harassment escalated. The pastor did not relent; instead, he changed tactics and attempted to entice him with money, further exerting pressure on him to renounce his faith. The persistence in trying to influence Suraj’s decision despite his resistance constitutes a form of psychological coercion. The repeated attempts to manipulate him—first through fear of continued illness and then through financial incentives—created an environment where he was systematically targeted and pressured to abandon his Hindu beliefs. Additionally, the harassment was not limited to a single individual but extended to the wider community. Suraj’s brother, Ranthu Malhar, had already been converted by the same pastor, which suggests a deliberate pattern of targeting multiple members of a single family. Once Ranthu had converted, the process of harassment intensified as other converts, including Sarju Karmali and his daughter Namita Karmali, actively visited Suraj’s home to persuade him to follow suit. This demonstrates a methodical approach, where new converts are encouraged to act as intermediaries in pressuring and influencing others, creating a cycle of sustained harassment within the community. Further, threats of social boycott were used as a means of harassment to manipulate, pressure, and intimidate Hindus into converting to Christianity. By using the threat of social boycott, the converted faction sought to break the resistance of those who remained Hindu, ensuring that the pressure to convert remained constant and unrelenting. The ultimate goal was to create a situation where Hindu resistance became unsustainable, forcing them to abandon their faith. This aspect of the case underscores the calculated and strategic nature of religious coercion, reinforcing why it qualifies as a Hinduphobic hate crime rooted in predatory proselytisation. Disclaimer: Here it becomes important to note that none of the media reports on this case mention the exact date when the conversion occurred. It is, however, mentioned that the accused first converted the victim's brother in February 2025. Therefore, to document this case, we have chosen a date, which is not accurate but only indicative of the month and the year.