Hindus offered inducements, forbidden from worshipping deities, and manipulated to convert to Christianity

Case ID : a6cace9 | Location : Purnia, Bihar, India | Date of Incident : Fri, 26 December, 2025

Case ID : a6cace9

Purnia, Bihar, India

26 December, 2025

Hindus offered inducements, forbidden from worshipping deities, and manipulated to convert to Christianity

Predatory Proselytisation

Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Pattern of targeting Hindus

Victim says was brainwashed/groomed

Attempting to convert/converting by denigrating Hinduism

Case Summary

In Banmankhi, Purnia, Bihar, more than a hundred Hindus were lured to convert to Christianity by a Christian pastor. The accused enticed Hindus with inducements, forbade them from worshipping Hindu deities and also manipulated them heavily and converted them to Christianity According to reports, this incident came to light when the Hindu victims decided to revert to the Hindu faith through a Gharwapsi programme on 26th December 2025. Gharwapsi is a Hindu religious event where individuals who have converted to other faiths can return to Hinduism through religious rituals. This Gharwapsi event was organised by Hindu organisations, and several families who had previously been forcibly converted to Christianity returned to Hinduism by performing yagna, havan, and religious programmes. Upendra Kushwaha, head of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's religious propagation department in Bihar and Jharkhand, said that the Hindu victims were previously lured and converted from Hinduism to Christianity. But later, when they realised they had converted to the wrong faith, they returned to Hinduism. Some of the Hindu victims, namely, Surendra Rai, Meena Devi, and Kalu Harijan, residents of Har Harintod in the Baisi police station area, said that they had been lured with inducements and manipulated by a Christian priest into converting from Hinduism to Christianity. However, after conversion, they realised that they were being forbidden from worshipping Hindu gods and goddesses. Following this, the Hindu victims filed a case at the local police station and informed Hindu organisations about their ordeal. Following this, they returned to their Hindu faith. The victims also appealed to people to never abandon their religion due to any temptation.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category selected in this case is- Predatory Proselytisation. The subcategory 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 other subcategory selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. The tertiary categories selected are- 'Pattern of targeting Hindus' and 'Victim says was brainwashed/groomed'. Religious brainwashing essentially means the often subtle and forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up their religious beliefs to accept contrasting regimented ideas. Religious grooming or brainwashing also involves propaganda and manipulation. It involves the systematic effort, driven by religious malice and indoctrination, to persuade “non-believers’ to accept allegiance, command, or doctrine to and of a contrasting faith. Cases of such grooming or brainwashing are far more nuanced than direct threats, coercion, inducement and violence. In such cases, it is often seen that there is repeated, subtle and continual manipulation of the victim to induce disaffection towards their own faith and acceptance of the contrasting faith of the perpetrator. While subtle indoctrination is widely acknowledged as predatory, an element which is often understated in such conversions or the attempts of such conversion is the role of loyalty and trust which might develop between the perpetrator and the victim. Fiduciary relationships are often abused to affect such religious conversion. For example, an educator transmitting religious doctrine of a competing faith to a Hindu student. The Hindu student is likely to accept what the teacher is transmitting owing to existence of the fiduciary relationship. The exploitation of the fiduciary relationship to religiously indoctrinate victims would also be included in this category. Since the underlying animosity towards the victim’s faith forms the basis of predatory proselytization, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. The other subcategory selected is- Attempting to convert/converting by denigrating Hinduism. In several cases, Hindus are converted or an attempt is made to convert Hindus by denigrating their faith, Hinduism. In such cases, the Hindus associate with the non-Hindu perpetrators often by choice and then, the attempt to convert them by insulting their faith, showing the faith down etc begins. An example of this would be a non-Hindu gathering where the Hindus are attending the gathering of their own free will. However, once they attend the gathering, there is an explicit attempt to convert them by abusing their faith and hailing the faith of the perpetrator. The denigration of the Hindu faith is often based on misrepresentation of the Hindu faith, its doctrine and scriptures and insult to espoused traditions if not blatant lies about Hindu beliefs and ways. Such conversions or attempts at conversions are driven by animosity towards the Hindu faith and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. This case is a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime against Hindus. Here, inducements were not given out of kindness or goodwill; rather, it was a deliberate and coercive attempt to convert people to Christianity by targeting their deepest vulnerabilities. The Christian perpetrator used these inducements as a cunning tool to arm-twist individuals, exploiting their social isolation and economic hardships to force them into abandoning Hinduism and converting to Christianity. This predatory strategy stripped away personal agency, reducing Hindu lives to bargaining chips in a religious conquest. Offering such inducements in exchange for conversion laid bare the Christian perpetrator's deep-seated animosity and utter contempt for the victims' Hindu faith, viewing it not as a sacred heritage but as something disposable and inferior. Therefore, it stands as a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime, driven by bigotry that seeks to erase Hindu identity through calculated exploitation. The victims endured severe manipulation to convert them to Christianity, marking this as a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime. The pastor deployed relentless psychological tactics to erode their devotion to Hindu gods and traditions, pressuring them into submission against their will. These were not innocent discussions but aggressive assaults on their mind, designed to dismantle lifelong Hindu beliefs. Using such manipulative tactics to convert people to Christianity showcased the perpetrator's deep-seated religious animosity towards the Hindu community, treating their faith as an enemy to be conquered rather than a path to be respected. This insidious coercion inflicted profound spiritual trauma, affirming the hate crime's roots in anti-Hindu hostility. The Hindu victims stated that they were also forbidden from worshipping their deities, a brutal act that constituted a clear instance of denigration of their Hindu faith and beliefs, directly attacking their religious sentiments. Banning veneration of beloved gods and goddesses, central to daily prayers, aarti, and life milestones, severed their spiritual lifeline, humiliating them and enforcing alien practices that clashed with their Hindu identity. Stopping them from worshipping their deities through such predatory control was no mere rule; it was a vicious erasure of the Hindu faith from their lives. Using these tactics to coerce conversions showcased deep hatred for Hinduism and the Hindu community, making it a religiously motivated crime. The fact that all Hindu victims ultimately returned to their ancestral faith through the Gharwapsi programme revealed the emotional and spiritual torment they suffered after conversion, underscoring this as a religiously motivated hate crime. Their resolve to reclaim Hinduism testified to the psychological scars left by the pastor's coercion, as they rejected the hollow promises and confronted the alienation from their roots. This homecoming exposed how the conversions had uprooted them, stripping away cultural identity and inner peace, leaving them adrift in spiritual exile. Given that this case meets several parameters of a religiously motivated hate crime, it is being added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incident dates based on when the crime occurs, not when it is reported by media sources. In the current case, media reports do not specify the exact date on which the victims' ordeal began. The reports do indicate that the Hindu individuals returned to Hinduism through a Ghar Wapsi on 26th December 2025; therefore, this date is used as the indicative incident date for documentation purposes. The report also mentions that more than 100 Hindus were forcibly converted to Christianity, but does not provide an exact victim count. For documentation purposes and to maintain consistency in our records, a conservative estimate of 100 victims is used as the victim count.