Hundreds of Hindu women lured with promises of relief from illness and family troubles, subjected to suspicious rituals by Christian man

Case ID : d32704d | Location : Sheikhpura, Bihar, India | Date of Incident : Sun, 11 January, 2026

Case ID : d32704d

Sheikhpura, Bihar, India

11 January, 2026

Hundreds of Hindu women lured with promises of relief from illness and family troubles, subjected to suspicious rituals by Christian man

Predatory Proselytisation

Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Pattern of targeting Hindus

Case Summary

Hundreds of Hindu women were lured under the guise of spiritual healing and personal relief by a Christian man in Sheikhpura, Bihar, on 12 January 2026. The incident came to light in Sheikhpura village under the Biharsharif Nagar Panchayat area after a video recorded by a student went viral. The building where these activities were being conducted also housed a Jeevika Library, where a large number of students came daily to study. A student who arrived to study at the Jeevika Library, upon noticing the suspicious activities, recorded the video. In the video, hundreds of Hindu women were seen inside a house on the main road, undergoing exorcism and religious rituals before a Christian religious leader. The large gathering of Hindu women seen in the video shocked local residents. According to sources, women were subjected to superstition and allurement at the library over a prolonged period. Villagers stated that women were lured from several nearby villages under the pretext of relief from illness, domestic strife and personal problems, and that the process of conversion by Christian men was carried out secretly. As soon as the video went viral, villagers demanded that the administration and police intervene and that the culprits be immediately arrested.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category selected is Predatory Proselytisation. The secondary 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 secondary category selected is: Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination, under which the tertiary category is: Pattern of targeting Hindus. 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 the 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 proselytisation, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. In this case, hundreds of Hindu women were induced and lured individually towards Christianity by Christian evangelists through the exploitation of physical ailments, emotional distress and domestic difficulties. Videos from the site showed hundreds of Hindu women participating in suspicious rituals led by a Christian individual presenting himself as a religious guide. The gatherings took place regularly, with Hindu women arriving from nearby villages after being assured relief from health problems, domestic conflicts and emotional suffering. Religious grooming operated by positioning the perpetrator as a healer, counsellor or authority figure. By offering relief from illness and personal hardship, trust and emotional dependence were gradually created. Once such dependence formed, religious influence was introduced without informed or voluntary consent. This method undermined freedom of conscience and constituted covert coercion. The inducement in this case was non-monetary but coercive in nature. Promises of healing, family harmony and personal relief were used to draw Hindu women into repeated participation in rituals. Exploiting fear, pain and vulnerability to influence religious belief constituted a recognised form of inducement and amounted to religious exploitation. This case qualified for inclusion in the hate crime database because it demonstrated deliberate targeting of Hindu women as a religious group, using deception and emotional manipulation to weaken their existing faith. The most significant religious marker in this case was the misuse of a student library, a space associated with education, safety and trust, to conduct suspicious religious rituals. This misuse created an environment of legitimacy, making victims more susceptible to manipulation and influence. Moreover, the student library was used as a front for covert religious influence and conversion-oriented indoctrination, exposing Hindu students who entered the space for education to concealed religious pressure. A second key marker was targeted religious inducement. The individuals drawn into the rituals were Hindu women from surrounding villages. The activity was not neutral spiritual counselling open to all communities but involved the selective inducement of Hindu women based on vulnerability and distress. A third marker was deception through misrepresentation. The gatherings were presented as healing and problem-solving sessions rather than religious activity. Religious intent remained concealed until participants became emotionally engaged, reflecting disregard for the victims’ religious autonomy. The scale of participation, involving hundreds of women over time, indicated systematic inducement rather than spontaneous religious expression. Even in the absence of confirmed completed conversions, the attempt itself satisfied the threshold for religious hostility. In conclusion, this case qualified as a religiously motivated hate crime because it involved targeted inducement of Hindu women, exploitation of emotional and health-related vulnerabilities, deceptive use of a student library, and covert religious indoctrination aimed at undermining Hindu religious identity. These elements collectively established clear religious animus and justified inclusion in the hate crime database. Disclaimer: The details of this case reveal that more than 100 Hindu women were lured by the accused; however, since it does not mention the exact number of victims, we have conservatively added 100 as the victim count in the database.