Hindu woman lured, sexually exploited and pressured to convert to Christianity for marriage
Mandvi (Surat), Gujarat, India 
15 May, 2025
Case Summary
A Hindu woman was lured into a relationship and pressured to convert to Christianity and marry in Mandvi Nagar, Surat district, Gujarat. Dr Ankit Ramjibhai Chaudhary, 30, a Christian and clinic owner, trapped the woman, who had come to his clinic for her husband’s medical treatment, made sexual relations with her. He further forced her to convert to Christianity and said that he would only marry her if she converted her entire family. The victim complained to Mandvi Police Station on 16 May 2025. Investigation revealed that Dr Ankit’s father, Ramjibhai Dubalbhai Chaudhary, 56, played a central role in the case. He worked as a teacher at a government primary school in Peepalwara and conducted religious activities as a Christian pastor. In 2014, he founded 'The Pray for Everlasting Life Charitable Trust' and served as its chairman. People visiting Dr Ankit for medical treatment were introduced to Ramjibhai, who performed rituals under the guise of prayer and removing obstacles, using these ceremonies to convert individuals to Christianity. Evidence showed that poor and unsuspecting people were coerced or persuaded into conversion through inducements. Based on this evidence, Ramjibhai Chaudhary was arrested under multiple sections of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021, and presented in court, which approved a five-day police remand. Authorities continued to investigate the trust’s finances and the role of others connected to this conversion network.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
For this particular case, there are two primary category selections made. The first primary selection made is: Crimes against women in relationships and other sexual crimes; under which the first secondary category selected is: Forced conversion before marriage. In such cases, a non-Hindu man is in a relationship with a Hindu woman when the pressure to convert her religion begins to manifest. In such cases, typically, two patterns emerge. First, when the relationship is consensual, and the religious identity of the perpetrator is known to the Hindu woman in the relationship, however, at some point during the relationship, the non-Hindu man starts to force the victim to convert her religion and give up her Hindu religious identity. The second is when the woman gets into a marriage with the man pretending to share her faith. Later, when the truth is revealed, the man starts pressuring the woman to convert her religion and give up her religious identity. In both the situations, the methods used to force the victim to convert her religion often revolve around force-feeding beef, forcing her to wear hijab, forcing her to read the Kalma or even pressurizing the victim to do ‘Nikah’, which is marriage under Islamic law, with a prerequisite being conversion to Islam. Cases where a Hindu woman consensually converts to Islam in a relationship will be left out of the hate crime database, even though it could be argued in several cases that the conversion was a result of religious brainwashing. The second secondary category selected is: Brainwashed and groomed, under which the tertiary category selected: is rape and sexual assault/harassment In our database, we have not added incidents where women have converted to another religion of their free will and no allegations of forced/involuntary conversion have been made. However, there are certain cases of conversion where the consent itself is a result of the brainwashing or grooming of a minor by the non-Hindu perpetrator trying to victimise a woman for her Hindu religious identity. The phenomenon of grooming points to non-Hindu perpetrators identifying their Hindu victims’ vulnerabilities and exploiting them over months and sometimes years, to extract the supposed ‘consent’ in order to convert their religion. In most cases of grooming, the victims are minors or the grooming started when the victim was a minor. In other cases of grooming, the non-Hindu perpetrator brainwashes and grooms a minor victim to extract their trust and then proceeds to rape them repeatedly with the intent of converting them to their faith. It is pertinent to understand here that when the victim is a minor, the ‘consent’ to convert or enter into a romantic relationship with an adult itself is redundant – addressed by POCSO. While every case of conversion of a minor and incidents of establishing a physical relationship with a minor by an adult is a crime, for the purpose of this database, a case would be considered a hate crime only if there is a distinct religious angle to the grooming. For example, in the UK, if a Hindu minor is targeted by Pakistani grooming gangs, it would be considered a hate crime because the victims are specifically targeted owing to their non-Muslim religious identity with the perpetrators being Muslim. In other cases, if a Hindu minor is brainwashed into entering a physical relationship with the non-Hindu adult perpetrator and the family alleges grooming/brainwashing of the minor to convert her religion, it would form a part of this database. If the victim is a Hindu adult, the case would form a part of this database only if the victim herself says that she was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. However, if the victim is deceased (murdered or otherwise), the case would form a part of this database if her family/friends provided testimony that the victim was brainwashed/groomed to convert her religion. Since these crimes have a distinct religious angle where the victim is being targeted owing to her Hindu religious identity, these cases are considered a hate crime. The second secondary category selected is: Predatory proselytisation, under which the secondary category selected is: Predatory proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation, or subtle indoctrination; under which the tertiary category selected is rape and sexual assault/harassment. 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 relevant here 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. This case is a religiously motivated hate crime because the Hindu woman was deliberately targeted due to her religious identity. She had visited Dr Ankit Ramjibhai Chaudhary’s clinic for her husband’s medical treatment, which placed her in a position of vulnerability and trust. Ankit exploited this trust to lure her into a personal relationship, had sexual relations with her, and then pressured her to convert to Christianity to continue the relationship. The key point is that the pressure was directly linked to her faith; the crime was not solely about sexual exploitation or deception, but about using her religious identity as leverage. The role of Ankit’s father, Ramjibhai Dubalbhai Chaudhary, further underscores the religious motive. As a Christian pastor and chairman of the Pray for Everlasting Life Charitable Trust, he systematically targeted individuals, including patients visiting Ankit’s clinic, for conversion under the pretence of performing rituals, prayers, or removing obstacles. Evidence showed that vulnerable and poor individuals were coerced or persuaded into converting through manipulation and inducements. The coordinated involvement of father and son illustrates a pattern of predatory proselytisation, grooming, and exploitation designed to affect non-Christians. The intersection of sexual exploitation and religious coercion demonstrates that the crime was driven by hostility toward the victim’s Hindu faith. Sexual abuse was used as a tool to pressure the victim into abandoning her religious identity, while religious manipulation and inducements reinforced the coercion. The deliberate targeting of the victim because she was Hindu, combined with the methods employed, shows that this was not merely a personal crime or isolated incident but a hate crime with a clear religious dimension. In summary, the crime is religiously motivated because the victim’s faith was central to the motive, methods, and objectives: she was exploited sexually and psychologically to force her to convert, while her religious identity was the explicit reason she was targeted. The systematic nature of the father-son operation, the manipulation of vulnerable individuals, and the use of religious authority to achieve conversion all demonstrate that hostility toward the Hindu faith was the driving force behind the crime. It is thus added to the tracker.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 1
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Arrested
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Christian Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
