Hindu youth lured with inducements, pressured to change his faith, and assaulted upon resistance by Christian evangelists

Case ID : d3270a1 | Location : Howrah, West Bengal, India | Date of Incident : Sat, 10 January, 2026

Case ID : d3270a1

Howrah, West Bengal, India

10 January, 2026

Hindu youth lured with inducements, pressured to change his faith, and assaulted upon resistance by Christian evangelists

Predatory Proselytisation

Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement

Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for refusal to convert

Case Summary

A Hindu youth named Sayan Ghosh was offered financial incentives, pressured to convert to Christianity and was physically assaulted by a group of Christian men and women in the Chandni Ghoshpara area of Amta, Howrah district, West Bengal. According to media reports, the incident occurred on 11th January 2026 when the victim, Sayan Ghosh, was approached by the perpetrators and was offered money to convert to Christianity. When he resisted, the group assaulted him. Three village youths who attempted to intervene and protect him were also attacked, resulting in injuries. Tanay Ghosh, the father of Sayan Ghosh and the complainant, stated that he and his son were in the neighbourhood when several Christian men and women approached them, forcibly asked Sayan to convert to Christianity, and offered him money to change his religion. He added that when his son protested, they started beating him. He further stated that when Sayan’s friends attempted to intervene and protect him, they too were attacked, leaving three youths injured. Following the complaint filed at the Amta Police Station, cases were registered against eleven accused persons under multiple sections of the law. The police arrested Radheshyam Sharma and Asit Manna in connection with the incident. On 12th January 2026, the arrested individuals were produced before the Uluberia court, which remanded them to fourteen days of judicial custody. Investigations continued, and police stated that further arrests may follow based on evidence and witness statements. The victim’s family demanded strict punishment for all those involved, describing the coercion as organised and deliberate. The Amta incident sparked concern among residents and social organisations, who stated that forced or inducement-based conversions violated constitutional values of free will and religious freedom. They called for closer monitoring of religious activities, stricter enforcement of existing laws, and protection of vulnerable communities from coercion. At the time of writing this report, the investigations are ongoing.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case is documented under the selected primary category: Predatory Proselytisation. Under this, the selected secondary category is: Conversion/attempts to convert by inducements. 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- 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. Another selected primary category is: Attack not resulting in death. Under this, the selected secondary category is: Attacked for refusal to convert. When there is pressure, threat or coercion employed upon the Hindu victim to convert to a different religion, in several cases, the victim refuses to succumb to the pressure/threats. Once the victim refuses, the perpetrator proceeds to attack/assault the victim owing to his/her refusal to convert. In such cases, the pressure/threat/intimidation/coercion/violence itself is driven by animosity towards the victim’s Hindu faith. The violence then is another hate crime driven by the victim’s refusal to abandon his professed faith, Hinduism, and convert to the religion of a non-Hindu perpetrator. Since the victim’s faith is at the heart of the pressure to convert and the ensuing violence towards the victim, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. This case stands as a clear instance of a religiously motivated hate crime for the following reasons: Firstly, the Hindu victim was targeted specifically because of his Hindu identity. Tanay Ghosh, the father of Sayan Ghosh, stated that the group forcibly asked his son to abandon Hinduism and embrace Christianity. The demand to change religion from Hinduism to Christianity demonstrates direct targeting of the victim based on his faith. It also demonstrates the perpetrators' deep-seated animosity towards the victim due to his Hindu identity, making it a religiously motivated crime. Secondly, the perpetrators used monetary inducements to pressure the victim into conversion. The use of financial incentives to encourage Christian conversion clearly demonstrates that these actions were not motivated by kindness or charity. Instead, they were calculated attempts to exploit the Hindu victim specifically because of his religion. By providing inducements to the victim to change his faith, the Christian perpetrators were effectively emotionally blackmailing him for conversion. Such instances are seen in many cases where members of Christian missionary groups target socially and economically vulnerable Hindus to further their agenda of religious conversions. This form of coercion strips Hindus of their agency and dignity and enforces forced conversions. These are not random or isolated incidents, but rather are premeditated efforts to undermine the Hindu faith, persuade Hindus to discard their own faith, and convert to Christianity. Such acts are deeply rooted in religious animosity towards Hindu victims and their faith, making it a religiously motivated offence. Thirdly, the perpetrators repeatedly forced and harassed the victim to convert to Christianity. Conversion when not based on willful desire but on external persuasion or pressure is not just a change of faith; it is a deliberate attempt to strip a Hindu of their religious identity and use coercive means to impose Christianity on them. Use of coercion and harassment as tools to change a Hindu individual's faith amounts to a clear example of a religiously motivated crime. Fourthly, the Christian group applied violence against Sayan Ghosh and his three friends, who attempted to intervene. The assault occurred directly because the victim refused to convert, indicating that the violence was motivated by religious intolerance and aimed at punishing resistance to conversion. Attacking a Hindu individual just for refusing conversion showcases the intensity with which the perpetrators would go to enforce conversions, making it a religiously motivated offence. The victim's family described the coercion as organised and deliberate. A group of men and women approached the victim, attempted conversion, offered inducements, and applied violence when resisted. This demonstrates premeditated, religion-based targeting. The combination of targeted religious pressure, use of inducements, application of violence, and organised action demonstrates that this incident was motivated primarily by religious animosity, qualifying it as a case of religiously motivated hate crime. Therefore, this case is being added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker.