A Hindutva Footsoldier Is Out to Make the Most of UP's Anti-Conversion Law – No Matter the Cost

This is the eighth article in a series of reports on false cases filed under the anti-conversion laws brought in by BJP governments in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

New Delhi: On most days, Jittu Sonkar lives a mundane life, selling fruits at a market in Azamgarh in eastern Uttar Pradesh to make a living. But he lives another life – as a dedicated and highly-motivated soldier of Hindutva.

Over the last few years, Sonkar has had more than just willing customers in his crosshairs. Specifically, Christians or Hindus who express faith in or preach about Jesus Christ and the Bible. In his crusade against the Christian faith, Sonkar has weaponised the anti-conversion law introduced by the Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government. Ever since its inception in 2020, the law has been used to target religious minorities, especially Muslims and Christians, and suppress their religious practices as well as interpersonal relationships.

What’s notable about Sonkar is that since 2021, he has filed three identical criminal complaints under the unlawful conversion law. He has accused people of forcibly trying to convert him from Hinduism to Christianity or offering him money as an allurement to convert. Sonkar belongs to the Khatik community, a Dalit sub-caste traditionally associated with slaughtering animals for food and selling fruits and vegetables in urban areas.

Sonkar’s vigilantism is a classic example of how Hindutva elements have manipulated and enforced the anti-conversion law to file frivolous cases targeting peaceful religious gatherings or private events. “Wherever there will be any danger to the Hindu samaj (society), I will raise my voice,” Sonkar told The Wire, exhibiting pride over his activism.

Jittu Sonkar. Photo: Special arrangement

Ever since the law came into force in November 2020, it has become routine for right-wing activists linked to the ruling saffron ideology, including members of the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bharatiya Janata Party, to lodge FIRs against Muslims as well as lower caste Hindus perceived to be practising Christian traditions or deviating from traditional Hinduism. The Wire, which has gone through hundreds of such cases, found that most of them were built on general allegations, flimsy evidence and conjecture, as part of a concerted strategy to harass individuals and groups from the minority and marginalised communities. But so far, the focus has mostly been on the victims of such cases – those accused of unlawful conversion. Through Sonkar’s story, we provide you a perspective from the other end of the spectrum – the vigilante complainants.

Three FIRs that read like one

At least three FIRs have been lodged in two different police stations in Azamgarh – Kotwali and Kandhrapur – under the anti-conversion law solely based on Sonkar’s complaints. These were registered in 2021, 2022 and 2024. In each of these cases, Sonkar is the alleged victim, claiming he was threatened and given allurements to leave the Hindu faith.

The first complaint lodged by Sonkar was in August 2021, nine months after the Adityanath government implemented the stringent law which criminalises religious conversion if found to be effected for marriage or through representation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or other allegedly fraudulent means. Sonkar lodged an FIR against a 60-year-old retired Dalit construction labourer Shankar (whose name we have changed to protect his anonymity). Shankar was charged with converting poor Hindus in a locality in Azamgarh to Christianity by offering them money and promising to free them from the grip of ‘evil spirits’. Sonkar also accused Shankar of hurting his religious sentiments by insulting Hindu goddesses and deities.

Jittu Sonkar with BJP leader Dinesh Lal Yadav 'Nirahua', an ex MP. Photo: Special arrangement

Though Sonkar told The Wire that he had no affiliation with any political party or outfit, we found plenty of references linking him to the activities of the RSS and the BJP. Local sources also confirmed his association.

In the 2021 case, Sonkar alleged that an unidentified person had been visiting his locality, Sarai Mandraj, for the last three months and was promising people that he would “remove the obstacles of ghosts and spirits” from their lives. The man, whom Sonkar identified as Shankar, was allegedly also active in a Dalit basti in the neighbouring locality of Kartalpur where he was “converting” people to Christianity by enrapturing them with his “illusions” and through other allurements.

Sonkar alleged that on August 31, 2021 – a Tuesday – at around 10 am, he found Shankar distributing Bibles and other Christian religious books to people. Shankar was also using “obscene” language to insult Hindu deities and goddesses, claimed Sonkar. When the locals objected to his language, Shankar offered each of them an “allurement” of Rs 500 and mentioned that if they accepted Christianity, “Prabhu Ishu” (Jesus) would rid them of all their “suffering and penury”.

Later, while testifying in a trial court, Sonkar sprung up a new allegation that Shankar had offered him Rs 30,000 to convert to Christianity. According to Sonkar’s theory, Shankar used to convert people at the house of a local resident, Nirmala Devi. Sonkar claimed that Shankar and Nirmal Devi called him to the house so that they could exorcise him. When he reached the house, the duo was already engaged in prayers and converting several women to Christianity, he alleged. They offered him Rs 30,000 to accept Christianity but when he objected and rejected the money, they abused him with casteist slurs related to his Khatik background, Sonkar alleged.

The complaints lodged by him in 2022 and 2024 were uncannily similar to this. The second case lodged by Sonkar was in May 2022. Two persons, Rausi Sukh (25) and Vijay Kumar (48), were arrested after being booked under Sections 3 and 5 (1) of the anti-conversion law, and under sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. They were also charged with criminal intimidation.

According to the FIR, Sonkar said that around noon on May 22, 2022, some people came to his locality, Sarai Mandraj, informing him that a “good orator” was delivering a fine “pravachan (sermon)" in a house near a well-known bakery on Harbanshpur Road. Sonkar said he went to the house to listen to the discourse and upon reaching found 50-60 people, including women and children, gathered there. Sonkar claimed he saw Vijay Kumar insulting Hindu gods and goddesses. On the other hand, they were “glorifying” Jesus Christ, he said. “As my religious feelings were hurt, I protested. After this they offered me the temptation of money and asked me to convert,” he said. When he informed the police about it, the duo abused him with casteist slurs and threatened to kill him, alleged Sonkar.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty.

The third case was lodged on October 6, 2024. Incidentally, this was just 10 days after a court acquitted Shankar in the first case from 2021, ruling that Sonkar’s allegations were dubious. Earlier in July last year, the government amended the law to make it even more oppressive, increasing the maximum punishment from 10 years to life imprisonment, further empowering vigilante groups and individuals like Sonkar by allowing “any person” to file a complaint and making the process of securing bail even more difficult.

The third FIR was registered at the Kandhrapur police station under the anti-conversion law against a couple – Rajesh Kumar and Indu Bala – and other unidentified persons. They were also charged with criminal intimidation. Sonkar alleged that he had received inputs that a ‘satsang’ was being organised in village Pandey Chawar. Like in the previous two cases, Sonkar said he went to the spot to listen to the satsang. Once he reached there, he claimed he found that hundreds of children and women had gathered at Rajesh Kumar and Indu Bala’s house. They were inspiring people to become Christians in the name of superstition and exorcising evil spirits, he alleged. They were insulting Hindu ‘devi-devtas’ while singing praises to Jesus Christ, he said. Sonkar said that when he objected to all this, the couple threatened to kill him. “Rajesh said that if you become Christian, you will get whatever you want. ‘Take some money and stay quiet’,” said Sonkar.

An ongoing campaign

The fruit-vendor-cum-right-wing-activist spreads his wares on all seven days of the week. But he keeps an eye out for Christian meetings in the area through his personal scouts and informants. “I go there when I get time,” he said.

All this did not begin with the introduction of the anti-conversion law. Sonkar had been prying into Christian meetings and prayer sabhas even before that, but did not get much state support then. “They would get off scot free. Now the police are taking good action,” said Sonkar. The law has emboldened him and he feels that it is a big deterrent against conversions. “The incidents of conversion have reduced. They have been controlled to some extent,” he said.

Sonkar claims there is a nefarious campaign at work to convert Hindus to Christianity in a bid to reduce the population of the majority community. He believes that Christian missionaries and pastors receive funds from abroad and lure poor Hindus from backward and Dalit communities to Christian meetings meant for conversion under the pretext of offering them cures for evil spirits and other ailments, through the ‘holy water’. As consistently reported by The Wire, such ideas have been widely propagated by right-wing activities in their official complaints under the anti-conversion law.

“Conversion is a big threat. The population of Hindus is falling by the day while their (Christians) population is rapidly increasing,” said Sonkar, spewing a commonly-circulated Hindutva myth.

Since the state has a stringent law against conversions, all Sonkar has to do is barge into a place and alert the police. “I go alone and alert the administration and police,” he said. But what if the situation turns hostile? “I don't care about my well-being. We all have to die one day, don’t we,” said Sonkar.

So far he has not had much success legally. In one case (2021) the accused was acquitted, while the other two cases are still under trial.

Court questions Sonkar's story

After a three-year-long trial, a court in Azamgarh in September 2024 acquitted Shankar of the charges of unlawful conversion. The court found the charge to be dubious and said that the investigation by the police was riddled with illegalities and contradictions. The court found the prosecution's story and the police investigation to be faulty.

In the judgment, the court also underlined the contradictions in the monetary inducements allegedly offered by Shankar to Sonkar. While in the FIR, Sonkar said Shankar offered people Rs 500 each, in his court testimony he said he had received a personal offer of Rs 30,000. There was no clear or documentary evidence of any monetary allurement, noted the court.

In the second FIR, involving Vijay Kumar and Rausi Sukh, a court in June 2022 while granting them bail, raised prima facie doubts against Sonkar’s allegations. Vijay Kumar and Sukh pleaded before the court that they were not converting anyone but were only engaged in puja archana or worship, which was a fundamental right. They denied all allegations raised by Sonkar.

Special judge SC/ST court Azamgarh Shivchand noted that what the duo allegedly said about Hindu religion was not mentioned in the FIR. Also, Sonkar failed to mention what religious sentiments of his were hurt and how much money he was allegedly offered to convert.

“According to the constitution, every person has been given the fundamental right to propagate his religion. On the basis of doubt and possibilities, an FIR has been filed,” said the court.

In the third case, a court granted Rajesh Kumar and Indu Bala bail on October 29, 2024. While seeking bail, the couple mentioned Sonkar’s notorious record of filing multiple cases under the law. Rajesh also said that the alleged conversion event was actually the mundan sanskar (a Hindu ritual where an infant’s head is shaved) of his nine-month-old daughter who had not been keeping well and was being treated in a children’s hospital. Rajesh pointed out that Sonkar’s house in Azamgarh city was around 20 km from the place of incident in Kandhrapur. So how did Sonkar come to know about the incident, asked Rajesh, hinting that Sonkar led a planned operation.

But all this does not bother Sonkar. He is as motivated as ever. “Jab tak zinda rahunga, tab tak yeh karya karam karta rahunga (As long as I am alive, I will continue to do this work),” he said.

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