Opinion | Why The Nashik Conversion Case Needs Immediate Remedial Action

Because it shows how easily proselytisers can game the system and remain undetected

While there are more shocking facts emerging about the ‘corporate jihad’ operation at Nashik, what should alarm companies, employees, and families alike is the allegation that there was collusion to convert co-workers and that it had been happening for quite a while.

It reveals just how terrifyingly easy it is to game the system and conduct coercive activities undetected if the people concerned know how to stay under the radar. It has put the whole system on notice.

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Since this incident came to light, other worrisome ongoing practices in Indian companies, including discriminatory dress codes, have also been exposed. But while those are indeed worthy of proper investigation and prompt rectification, the issue of widespread organised proselytisation pressure in the workplace has far deeper ramifications as it automatically puts an entire community under the lens, not just possibly careless managements of sundry companies.

There are attempts to characterise the incident as a set-up, a way to further beleaguer minority employees around India, but the complaints of nine women were verified via undercover investigations by women of the Nashik Police before the conversion suspects were picked up.

So there was clinching evidence in hand before busting the racket, knowing that any case of forcible conversion would cause a huge controversy, especially in election season.

But the facts of the case are such, it is hard to pass it off as merely election dirty tricks. Under the POSH Act that came into force over a decade ago, companies are mandated to set up internal committees for redressal of sexual harassment complaints. But most are thought to be unresponsive and geared to protect the status quo. Most cases that finally do come to public attention are examples of where the system has failed but the employee has bravely persisted.

So inbuilt systems do not inspire confidence. Now a new angle has been added to sexual harassment in the workplace: conversion. The fact that seven accused men as well as one woman are co-religionists, chillingly points to deliberate recruitment in pursuance of a common goal. All Muslim men obviously do not see workplaces as hunting grounds for converting others, especially women; so how did so many men with the same goal land up at the same company?

Many will justifiably wonder whether any senior management had a hand in recruiting these proselytisers, and whether anyone with access to personnel files helped identify vulnerable women employees. That does seem possible as there are allegations of suppression of complaints to facilitate the continuation of the conversion project.

Unfortunately, it seems as if they were all working according to some secret SOP, perhaps even with foreign links as some now aver.

It has been reported that the harassed women had been told that it was happening in other companies too. The ramifications of that assertion are truly scary. Not only will it make companies look askance at their existing Muslim employees, it will also make them wary of hiring any more from now on. It will also make employees suspicious of Muslim colleagues. That would be profoundly unfair to lakhs of innocent Muslims in workplaces across India.

Internationally, of course, the issue of workplace proselytisation is far from being straightforward although the locale of most arguments — Europe and the Americas — are quite different from the Asian and South Asian realities. Some western experts believe that employers can and should prevent such activities in the workplace as proselytisation is not essential to personal religious belief, office time is only for work, and religious activism can create disharmony.

But others contend that as proselytisation is deemed a bona fide manifestation of religion by the European Court of Human Rights, preventing it anywhere (including workplaces) impinges on the proselytiser’s religious rights and those of potential converts! Since time in the workplace is also spent on social interaction, “exchange of ideas" cannot be restricted, they say. Can harassment in workplaces to convert be prevented if this is the liberal guideline?

In the US, case law on the issue arising out of the activities of evangelical Christians who aver that urging others to convert to their faith in all places is a tenet of their religion, mostly decrees that acceding to requests to proselytise in the workplace imposes undue burdens on employers and could disrupt efficiency. Potential misuse of senior positions to further proselytisation agendas would then be inherent. While not illegal, such activities are clearly not advisable.

Trying to convert someone is not illegal per se here, but coerced or fraudulent conversion is prohibited by anti-conversion laws in some states. The Constitution guarantees the right to “propagate" religion under Article 25, but the Supreme Court has ruled this does not imply a fundamental right to convert another person. Whatever may be accepted as the norm in the West, in the sensitive communal atmosphere of India, confidence needs to be restored in the system. It is quite apparent that just a few individuals placed in key posts within organisations can game the system and help such activities continue undetected indefinitely. Companies, organisations, and even apex industry bodies should discuss and put in place checks and balances to not only detect and deal with possible ongoing similar operations within their own offices and shopfloors, but also to prevent recurrence of such secret operations in the future.

It would also be helpful if leading Indian Muslims —not only politicians and clerics but also professionals and celebrities —speak up on this incident and call for more vigilance regarding proselytising in workplaces. Elite Muslims should take upon themselves the responsibility of convincing the society at large that their community also stands with the victims, much like prominent Hindus do not hesitate to criticise their co-religionists on certain emotive issues.

Because there is no doubt that whatever the outcome of the Nashik case, the prospect of widespread covert conversion operations in workplaces has shaken society. Parents are voicing fears about conversion as an additional job hazard. Stories of conversion attempts in other cities are creating doubts in the minds of potential jobseekers. And employers are in a bind about the scale of disharmony and distrust generated by this incident. The system must be rescued.

The author is a freelance writer. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.

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