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Indian man who converted from Hinduism to Christianity denied asylum by New Zealand: report
New Zealand has rejected the asylum bid of an Indian national who claimed that converting from Hinduism to Christianity led to persecution in his home country.
New Zealand has rejected the asylum bid of an Indian national who claimed that converting from Hinduism to Christianity led to persecution in his home country. New Zealand’s Immigration and Protection Tribunal (IPT) dismissed his asylum plea in March 2026, noting that the appellant failed to establish a situation amounting to “being persecuted” in India.
Some background information
The case centres around a man who was born into a middle-class family in Uttarakhand in 2001. According to a report in The India Weekender, he developed an interest in Christianity while attending a Christian school.
He said that his paternal uncle objected to his interest in Christianity. However, despite the opposition, he continued attending church in India secretly after completing his education in 2019.
He alleged that in 2020, his uncle [AA] beat him after discovering that he was attending church. “When the appellant challenged [AA]'s support for extremist Hindu organisations, [AA] tied the appellant's hands and beat him,” a submitted document states.
In October 2023, the man came to New Zealand on a visitor visa. He later began to attend church regularly. In June 2024, he formally converted to Christianity.
Around the same time, the Indian man lodged a refugee claim. The Refugee Status Unit received the appellant's Confirmation of Claim to Refugee and Protection Status form on June 17, 2024.
Claims of persecution
The man claimed that in March 2025, his family home in India was “attacked by a group of approximately six to eight people”.
“The group threatened the appellant's family, broke a window, vandalised parts of the house with hockey sticks, and chanted party slogans,” a filing stated.
The man claimed that his maternal relative and individuals associated with “parties such as the BJP, Bajrang Dai and Gau Raksha Dai” were involved in the attack.
(Also read: TCS suspends Nashik employees: A timeline of sexual harassment, religious conversion case)
The Refugee Status Unit (RSU) interviewed him on March 14, 2025 but declined his claim a few weeks later.
The Indian then appealed to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal of New Zealand.
Asylum claim dismissed
However, the tribunal also dismissed the appeal, finding the claim to be “manifestly unfounded”.
“This is an appeal against a decision of a refugee and protection officer declining to grant refugee status or protected person status to the appellant, a citizen of India,” the tribunal said.
The tribunal found that the appellant did not qualify for refugee or protected person status, emphasizing that he had not sought protection from agencies in India.
“He made no complaint to the police, for example. Nor did he seek the assistance of the courts to compel his uncle and the other men to cease their beatings and threats,” it said. “The appellant has provided no evidence of any effort or attempt by him to access state protection in India.”
While acknowledging that he was beaten in India for his faith, the NZ tribunal said that it did not meet the threshold required under refugee law.
“The evidence does not establish a risk of any such harm any higher than mere speculation or a remote or random possibility,” it judged.
