Minor Hindu children offered inducements and tortured to convert to Buddhism; trafficked to Nepal, head shaven and forced to wear Buddhist robe

Case ID : cb28231 | Location : Purba Singhbhum, Jharkhand, India | Date of Incident : Mon, 10 November, 2025

Case ID : cb28231

Purba Singhbhum, Jharkhand, India

10 November, 2025

Minor Hindu children offered inducements and tortured to convert to Buddhism; trafficked to Nepal, head shaven and forced to wear Buddhist robe

Predatory Proselytisation

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Conversion of minor

Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Case Summary

In Rangamati village of Chaibasa, West Singhbhum, Jharkhand, a total of twenty-seven minor Hindu children were brainwashed, offered inducements, and trafficked for religious conversion by Buddhist missionaries. According to reports, on 11 November 2025, the village headman, Sriram Jonko, along with intermediaries Narayan Kandeyang and Basil Hambrem, sent 11 minor Hindu children, 16 children were sent earlier, to Nepal under the pretext of giving them higher education and a better future. The children's families were persuaded by assurances of financial support, better educational opportunities, and future job opportunities. However, instead of receiving the support, the minor Hindu children were held hostage, harassed and tortured for religious conversion. The operation came to light when two children who were taken to Kathmandu, Nepal, managed to escape on 7 December 2025 and return to their families in the Rangamati village. Their families were shocked to see their shaved heads and Buddhist monastic attire. The boys stated that upon arrival in Nepal, they were forcibly tonsured (head shaven), dressed in Buddhist robes, and kept inside a temple-like compound. They were forced to perform daily labour, denied education, and whenever they resisted, they were physically assaulted. They were pressured and tortured to convert to Buddhism. They further stated that twenty-five children remained captive in Kathmandu and were being pressured to convert to Buddhism. Some families attempted to approach the village headman and the middlemen for help in bringing the remaining children back, but were instead met with demands for money. Deeply distressed by the situation, the families approached the police and filed a complaint. Deputy Commissioner Chandan Kumar directed the police to visit Rangamati, record the statements of the returned children, and obtain full details from affected families. Following this, the district administration, working with the labour department, contacted the Nepal administration and initiated the formal process to secure the safe return of the remaining twenty-five children. The police were also preparing to register serious criminal charges related to human trafficking, hostage-taking, and forced religious conversion.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of - Predatory Proselytisation. The sub-category selected is- Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination, with the tertiary category being - Conversion of minor. 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 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 other subcategory selected 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. This case has been added to the tracker because twenty-seven minor Hindu children were brainwashed, offered inducements, and tortured for religious conversion by Buddhist missionaries. Firstly, it is important to note here that the victims were minors, which means the element of consent and genuine change of conscience was missing ab initio. Minors, due to their young age and lack of maturity, are particularly vulnerable to manipulation and coercion. They may not have the ability to fully understand the implications of converting to another religion, and the perpetrators purposely targeted and exploited this vulnerability of the victim. Since this case exemplifies the use of coercion and manipulation to achieve religious conversion, it is a blatant act of religious hate, which is why it has been documented here in the hate tracker. Such acts are not merely criminal in nature; they are ideologically charged, revealing religious prejudice and a calculated intent to alter the religious identity of a minor without their volition. Secondly, the perpetrators offered various forms of inducements to the victim and their families in order to lure them to Nepal, where they were forcibly converted. Offering incentives or making false promises, especially when directed at vulnerable individuals in need, shows that these incentives are not acts of kindness or charity. Instead, they are calculated moves to exploit vulnerable Hindus because of their religion. By providing inducements in exchange for conversion, the accused were effectively blackmailing those who might have been desperate for assistance or hope. This form of coercion strips people of their agency and dignity and results in coerced conversions. These are not random or isolated incidents, but rather cases deeply rooted in religious animosity towards Hindu victims. Thirdly, the children were harassed, pressured and tortured for religious conversion. Pressuring Hindu individuals to discard their religious faith and embrace another was a direct attack on their religious identity and dignity. It was not a matter of personal choice; it was coercion rooted in hostility towards the victim's Hindu identity. Such an attempt reflects religious animosity because the act was not simply about personal differences but about erasing the victim’s Hindu faith, making it a religiously motivated crime. Fourth, their heads were shaven, and they were forced to wear Buddhist monastic attire in an effort to make them more susceptible to conversion. Shaving the heads of Hindu children and putting them in Buddhist robes functioned as a symbolic erasure of their previous Hindu identity and a forced imposition of a Buddhist identity. Such actions reflected the deeper intent to sever the children’s ties with their community and to normalise their new identity as Buddhists. It was an attempt to impose a Buddhist lifestyle upon them. It was not merely about clothing; it symbolised a deliberate effort to overwrite their Hindu identity and forcibly assimilate them into the practices of the Buddhist faith. This again glaringly demonstrated the religiously motivated nature of the crime. Similarly, they were taken to Nepal to isolate them from their immediate social circle, cultural environment, and protective networks. They were also physically assaulted whenever they resisted. The intention was to break the victims down emotionally, physically, and spiritually so that they could be converted. This was not random violence; it was systematic, targeted, and rooted in religious animosity. This systematic attempt to erode the religious foundation of individuals and replace it with allegiance to another faith reflects deep religious malice and animus against the Hindu identity. 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: It is important to clarify that none of the media sources covering this case have specified the exact date when the children were taken to Nepal, or when these conversion activities began. The earliest date mentioned is 11 November 2025, when 11 children were taken to Nepal, though 16 children had already been taken previously. Since Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident based on when the victim’s ordeal began and not when it was reported, we have considered the date of the incident as 11 November 2025, though the media reported the incident on 9 December 2025.