Hindu man pressured for religious conversion under guise of exorcism by Islamic clerics in Kaushambi, Uttar Pradesh

Case ID : 30a9605 | Location : Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Sun, 12 July, 2026

Case ID : 30a9605

Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh, India

12 July, 2026

Hindu man pressured for religious conversion under guise of exorcism by Islamic clerics in Kaushambi, Uttar Pradesh

Predatory Proselytisation

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement

Case Summary

In the Shahjahanpur village of Kaushambi district, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu man was pressured for religious conversion by Islamic clerics associated with the Syed Salar Hans shrine. It was revealed that visitors to the shrine were subjected to coercive religious conversion under the guise of exorcism. According to the complaint, a Hindu man visited the shrine seeking relief through exorcism, where he initially paid ₹500 for the ritual. He was subsequently asked to pay ₹5,000 and was told that complete relief would only be possible if he converted to Islam. The complaint further stated that sustained pressure was exerted on him to convert and that people visiting the shrine were compelled to wear burqas. Acting on the complaint, police booked four named clerics under the relevant legal provisions and commenced an investigation. Following the registration of the case, members of Bajrang Dal and other Hindu organisations staged a protest at the shrine demanding strict action against the accused, prompting the deployment of additional police personnel to maintain law and order. Authorities stated that the investigation would examine the complainant's statement, the accounts of individuals associated with the shrine, and other available evidence before further legal action was taken.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of - Predatory Proselytisation. Within it, the 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. The other sub-category selected is - 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. The incident exhibited several elements that warranted its inclusion in the hate crime database because of the religiously motivated nature of the offence against a Hindu victim. The victim had visited the shrine solely to seek relief through exorcism and spiritual healing. Instead of confining the interaction to the religious service, the Islamic clerics used the opportunity to pressure him to embrace Islam. This proves that the victim's vulnerable condition and religious identity were exploited as a means to induce religious conversion. The religious identity of the victim was central to the incident. The Hindu victim had approached the shrine for spiritual assistance, not with the intention of changing his faith. The pressure to abandon his existing religion and adopt another transformed what began as a request for spiritual healing into an attempt to alter his religious identity. Pressuring a Hindu individual to discard his religious faith and embrace another is a direct attack on his religious identity and dignity. It is not a matter of personal choice; it is coercion rooted in hostility towards the victim's Hindu identity. Such an attempt reflects religious animosity because the act is not simply about personal differences but about erasing the victim’s Hindu faith, making it a religiously motivated crime. The case is also significant because it reflects a pattern in which individuals experiencing personal, emotional, health-related, or unexplained difficulties become particularly susceptible to influence. People who seek exorcism or other forms of spiritual intervention are often doing so because they believe conventional remedies have failed or because they attribute their suffering to supernatural causes. This vulnerability creates a pronounced imbalance of power between the spiritual authority conducting the ritual and the individual seeking help. If spiritual relief is made conditional upon changing one's religion, the individual's vulnerable state becomes a tool for religious conversion rather than an occasion for genuine spiritual assistance. An important aspect of this case is understanding why a Hindu man visited an Islamic shrine in the first place. Across several regions of India, including Uttar Pradesh, syncretic traditions have existed for centuries in which members of Hindu religious communities visit Sufi dargahs, Sikh gurudwaras and shrines seeking blessings, healing, fulfilment of vows, or relief from illness. Thus, many Hindus visit such shrines because they are locally regarded as places possessing spiritual powers that transcend formal religious boundaries. These visits are generally undertaken with the expectation of receiving prayers, blessings, or healing while retaining one's own religious identity. Visiting a shrine associated with another faith, therefore, does not by itself indicate any intention to convert or abandon one's religion. Rather, it reflects a long-standing cultural practice in which spiritual efficacy, rather than religious affiliation, motivates the visit. This context is particularly relevant because the victim's presence at the shrine should not be interpreted as evidence of willingness to change his faith. He approached the shrine only to seek exorcism. If he was subsequently told that complete relief depended upon embracing Islam, the interaction represented a shift from providing spiritual services to using those services as a means of encouraging religious conversion. The trust that visitors place in religious figures and healing centres makes such situations especially sensitive, as individuals seeking help may feel compelled to comply with demands that they would otherwise reject. Viewed in its entirety, the incident acquired the characteristics of a religiously targeted offence because the conduct was directed at changing the religious identity of a Hindu individual by exploiting his vulnerable circumstances and dependence on spiritual intervention. Such actions stem from inherent hostility towards the victim's professed faith since Abrahamic faiths believe that any non-adherent to the faith is subject to being dehumanised till they convert. Such acts were not merely personal crimes; they were rooted in a desire to dominate and erase the religious identity of the victim. Since such predatory actions stem from doctrinal animosity towards the Hindu faith and its adherents, this case is being documented as a religiously motivated hate crime Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incidents based on when an event occurred or when the victim's ordeal began. It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case has specified the exact date when the victim was pressured to convert. Therefore, for documentation purposes, we have recorded the date based on when the incident was reported in the media, 11 July 2026.